For the past month, the Andalusia Bulldogs football team has been making the most of its summer workouts.

From 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, the Bulldogs have been hitting the weights working on the core lifts — bench press, power clings and squats.

That’s on a daily basis, and on Tuesdays, Andalusia holds position meetings to work on foot work and throwing mechanics for quarterbacks, and coverage for linebackers, just to name a few.

In addition, one added benefit is that the Bulldogs have been able to work on offensive and defensive drills, AHS coach Brian Seymore said.

“You get some individual work with your players, and work the fundamentals,” he said. “The little things that are going to make them better football players.

“That’s something we’ve been stressing this summer,” he said. “When you hit August, and the time you start practicing, you actually pretty much have everything acclimated as far as offense and defense.

“It’s just a matter of going out there and polishing it up,” he said.

Running through drills during the summer isn’t a new thing, Seymore said. Teams have been partaking in the activity for a few summers now.

“With the addition of 7-on-7s and people competing against different teams — that’s good because to me it brings more of a competitive nature about it,” he said. “When you compete against yourselves, it gets kind of old. The kids get tired of it, but when you compete against other teams, they tend to step up and compete at a higher level. And that’s what you want your kids to do.”

Tuesday night was a good example of Andalusia’s competitiveness, as they went on to defeat Red Level in the finals of Pleasant Home’s 7-on-7 tournament.

“I don’t really put a lot of stock in the 7-on-7s, but I’ve been very impressed with our kids that have played,” Seymore said. “It has not been too high and too low — it’s been somewhere in the middle. That’s when you go to the older kids. You’ve got to find a way to get it done. I like that attitude about them. They get things done.”

With fall practice a little over a month away, Seymore said the team will move to a four-day workout week.

In addition, Seymore said that spring has “flown by” and that his players are excited about the opportunity to play this fall.

He added that the one big “difference” this summer is that the players “understand how things operate.”

“We’ve got some kids that understand how things work,” he said. “We’ve got players that take the lead, and we’ve got players that fall right behind them. It’s gotten a lot easier for the coaches.

“We know what they expect, and they know how to work in the weight room,” he said. “That’s a good thing. Also with experience, it brings more expectation. We discussed this as coaches and as players. We definitely want to raise the bar this year. That’s our goal. We’ve got to take it to the next level. It’s exciting and I think a lot of folks are definitely looking forward to this season.”

Correction: In the Thurs., July 1 edition of the Star-News, an Andalusia football player’s name was incorrectly spelled in a caption under a picture. It should have read, “Andalusia quarterback Adam Zelensky throws a pass to Johnnie Jones in a play.” The Star-News apologizes for the mistake, and was happy to make the correction.