Cardinal O’Hara’s soft-spoken Keon Powell making a statement on the football field

Cardinal O’Hara football coach Mike Ewing wasn’t quite sure what to make of Keon Powell when the senior defensive back and running back transferred in after three seasons at St. Joseph’s Prep.

Powell isn’t always the most talkative, and when he chooses to speak, a stiff breeze could whisk his words away.

“Super nice kid,” Ewing said at a practice this week. “Some kids, you ask them about themselves and you have to get them to stop. He’s soft-spoken. Humble is the word that comes to mind.”

At some point, Ewing also wondered how Powell’s personality would translate on the field. O’Hara, after all, had just one win last season and finished 1-6 in the Catholic League.

“It was kind of like, ‘All right, man. You are a football player, right?’ ” Ewing joked. “And then we put the pads on him and instantly we knew we were good.”

After rushing for nearly 200 yards two weeks ago, Powell leads the Lions (2-1) into Friday night’s PCL opener against visiting West Catholic.

“It’s a chance for us to show everybody in the Catholic League that we’re for real this year,” Powell said, “and that O’Hara is about to turn it around.”

Ewing, now in his second season in charge, learned that his team was in good hands about three or four days into summer training camp.

By then, he said, everyone was tired and sore and the defense had been brutalizing the offense during inside-handoff drills.

Perhaps Powell, who is 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, needed time to adjust since he hadn’t played running back since eighth grade at St. Mary Magdalen School, which used O’Hara as its home field.

“That switch got flipped and [Powell] started running over starters, and all of a sudden he just kind of transformed,” Ewing said. “The coaches just looked at each other like, ‘OK that’s the kid that we heard about.’

“When he steps on the field, he’s a different cat for sure.”

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Powell is also adjusting to a new role.

He played defensive back exclusively at the Prep, where he says he was part of a four-player rotation last season.

Now he plays both sides of the ball and is involved in special teams.

As a running back, Powell is a jack-of-all-trades, possessing the speed to score from anywhere and the agility to juke in tight spaces. He is also adept at catching passes out of the backfield.

His favorite thing to do, however, is to steamroll would-be-tacklers.

“It’s just kind of like asserting your dominance,” he said with a smile.

Two weeks ago, he rushed 25 times for 198 yards and a touchdown when the Lions beat Wayne Hills, 34-21. Last week, Powell added 91 yards and a score on 14 carries in O’Hara’s obliteration of Belmont Charter, 35-6.

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Some Division I schools, including Cincinnati, have shown interest, and Ewing says Powell’s exploits should draw more college coaches.

For now, Powell, much like his style as a running back, is just focused on what’s in front of him.

“I pretty much just have tunnel vision,” he said. “When I get the ball, it’s just me and the defenders. I don’t hear the crowd. I don’t hear anybody. I just get the ball and I’m focused on trying to score.”

Making plays is fun, he says, but his favorite position is defensive back, because that’s where he assumes he’ll play in college. Ewing jokes that he might be a better running back.

“I think that’s fair to say,” Powell said with a smile.

Wherever he lands, Powell just hopes to make his parents, Keana Nelson and Raymon Powell, proud.

“Obviously every kid wants to go Division I,” Powell said, “but I just want to go to college for free and help my parents out because they deserve it. They’ve done a lot for me so far in my life.”