Basalt football’s preparation for fall season got underway well before practice began

Monday may have been the official start to fall practice, but any players just now getting ready for the season are already way behind. The Basalt High School football team, for instance, has been grinding away in the weight room all summer in preparation.

“It shows how ready we are and how committed our team is going forward,” BHS senior William Daniel said during a morning weight session last week. “Even though we are not running every day at weight room, you are still getting your lungs in shape. You can definitely see the kids who are putting in work and how it pays off in the fall.”

Daniel, a standout running back and linebacker, is the leader in that weight room as well as on the field. As a junior last season, he rushed for 1,110 yards and 21 touchdowns, according to his stats on MaxPreps. He was one of two 1,000-yard rushers for the Longhorns last season, as then sophomore Will Tarallo tallied 1,213 yards and 10 touchdowns.

“He puts in more work than anyone else I’ve ever seen,” BHS senior receiver and cornerback Taylor Hays said of Daniel. “It’s definitely something special that we are doing here, getting a lot of guys here and working together. When it comes into the season, we’ve already been there and we are ready to go.”

Basalt’s zero-hour weight program, which is actually a class for credit, has meant open weight-room doors nearly every weekday morning during the summer. The majority of available BHS football players take part, along with athletes from other fall teams.

The weight program is led by Jordan Ebel, a former college wrestler from Denver (via Chicago) who has spent the past decade in the Roaring Fork Valley helping train athletes. This is his second full summer leading the zero-hour class.

“We talk a lot about doing more than is expected of them. We see a lot of athletes in the valley just showing up to what they are supposed to do and the generalized structures that programs provide,” Ebel said.

“And we’ve asked that all of our guys do more than that. We are asking them to do about 10 hours of activity throughout the summer every single week, whether that is speed, strength and conditioning, mobility work, stability work. We are trying to get them to raise their expectations for themselves and work toward a state title every day.”

Summer weights are strictly voluntary, per CHSAA rules. Not until practice officially begins each fall can coaches make training mandatory, but reality is teams are already far behind if that’s their true start. Longtime BHS football coach Carl Frerichs is proud to have the majority of available players taking part in summer weights, and he credits much of that to the environment Ebel has created.

“These kids want to be a part of it, which is huge,” Frerichs said. “It’s a credit to who Jordan is as a person and how much he knows and his knowledge in this and how much the kids respect it. Then 100% we always say this is our secret ingredient to success on Friday nights and Monday afternoons — it’s the extra work we put in this year-round.”

Basalt is coming off a 7-3 season. The Longhorns won their first five games of 2023, beating Summit (28-0), Eagle Valley (49-15), Buena Vista (33-14), Glenwood Springs (30-12), and Grand Valley (48-0).

Back-to-back losses to eventual league champion Rifle (55-27) and runner-up Moffat County (29-6) derailed the perfect record. BHS ended the regular season with wins over Coal Ridge (42-8) and Aspen (62-20) before a first-round playoff loss to The Classical Academy, 40-19.

Despite graduating its starting QB, BHS believes its beefier offensive line and the return of two standout running backs should make for another competitive squad in 2024.

“The season is coming quick and we are really excited about it,” Daniel said. “We definitely have a lot of returning guys. We lost some key players last year, but we are ready to fill those spots and get to work and start winning games.”

Basalt opens its season on Saturday, Aug. 24, with a non-league home game against Arvada. Kickoff is tentatively set for 1 p.m. on the BHS field.

Basalt’s remaining schedule is as follows: Sept. 5 at Rifle; Sept. 13 vs. Glenwood Springs; Sept. 20 at Evergreen; Oct. 4 at Delta; Oct. 11 vs. Coal Ridge; Oct. 18 vs. Moffat County; Oct. 25 at Middle Park; Nov. 1 vs. Aspen.

The Skiers open their season on Friday, Aug. 23, at home against Grand Valley.

acolbert@aspentimes.com