There’s being excited for football, and then there’s showing up at 6:30 a.m. to prove it.

For almost three weeks, nearly 40 Powell High School football players have taken time out of their summer break to do just that, making early-morning workout sessions in the school’s weight room a daily routine. And as the fall football season inches closer, Panthers head coach Chanler Buck couldn’t be happier with the turnout.

“Good numbers,” Buck said. “The great thing about it is, they’re coming to us. We’re not having to go out and track them down. The junior-senior class understands that you’ve got to get two or three buddies and hold each other accountable every day, wake each other up in the morning and come in and get your work done.”

So far, that seems to be the case among the Panthers. Seniors-to-be Jeron Smith and Nic Urbach were present Thursday morning, while upcoming juniors Mason Olsen, Zach Easum, Logan Lamb and Eli Briggs could be seen working hard in team workouts.

For Olsen, showing up for the hour-and-a-half training sessions serves one important purpose.

“To get better,” he said. “You’ve got to come in and get bigger, stronger, faster to compete with other players across the state. You’ve got to be competitive, so I’ve got to try to get as many guys in here as I can.”

Olsen’s attitude and leadership is likely turning heads, especially Buck’s, as Olsen was PHS’ backup quarterback last season and will likely make a play for the starting job this year. Olsen went on to say that strong turnout in the weight room now could be a good indicator of the team’s work ethic when practices start in August.

“It gets me very excited,” Olsen said. “It means they’re in it for the long haul. We’ve got young guys in here, they’re working hard and getting better, and that’s going to help us in the long run.”

Easum, who started at linebacker last year and will likely resume that role come the fall, echoed Olsen’s sentiments, saying that getting better starts in June, not August.

“I’m here every day — early — because I want to be the best,” Easum said. “I just want to improve our team. If I get better, it’s going to make the team better. If I come, more people will come.

“I’m ecstatic because there are more and more guys that are coming in ready to work hard every day. This means when practices start, we’ll put in the effort to get better every day.”

After a 5-4 record last season, and with most — if not all — of the key players from the Panthers’ three straight Class 3A state championship teams now graduated, Buck knows that physical improvements can be a big part of the rebuilding process.

“We’ve kind of been going through a transition ... it’s been an era of these kids understanding that,” the coach said. “I preach it at the middle school all the time ... that’s the beauty of my position (as a physical education teacher) ... I can get all of these kids coming through for three years and they understand coming in the importance of enrolling in a zero hour and being a part of an advanced P.E. class and how much that will help you as an athlete down the road.

“That’s why we put the mirrors up (in the weight room) and spend the extra money, because these kids like looking at themselves in the mirror and growing each year and putting on the extra weight.”

The high numbers attending the voluntary workouts has Buck excited, he said, and their enthusiasm is only getting the second-year head coach more hyped for the new campaign.

“We go right into our season, and we get all this time with these kids, and we’re looking forward to the big moments,” Buck said. “Kids are looking forward to football, and it’s football season right now for us.”