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Powell Simpson wants to send a shoutout.

To the Abanys, the Pennnellatores, the Westhavers, his dad Robert Rogers, to all of his youth football coaches who tutored him along the away.

A shoutout to his football coach Mike Redding and weight training coordinator, Tim Selmon, for further chiseling away and constructing the student-athlete that he is.

A shoutout to his track coach, Julie Collins, for putting his feet in the starting blocks and pointing him in the direction of the finish line.

And a shoutout to his blockers on specialty teams and on the offensive line who heave and ho and create just enough space for him to burst through and expend his energy. The Mansfield High football team is shouting too, about Simpson, the Hornets' trump card this season - a running back, kick returner and receiver who makes magic most every time that he touches the ball.

Simpson is No. 19 on the roster, but he might be the No. 1 feared player in the Hockomock League - the one individual that most every defensive coordinator and team has to attempt to put a harness upon to give itself a chance for victory.

The Hornets have won all seven games played in the Commonwealth this season, sitting atop the Hockomock League, the lone unbeaten and untouched member in a fall chock-full of surprises.

And to think that Simpson hasn't played much football until 2007, his senior season at MHS.

Oh, he played freshman football, but that was three years ago.

He decided not to play football as a sophomore, considering his future to be on the track surface, where he is one of the premier sprinters and jumpers in the state.

He decided to play football as a junior, but suffered a sprain-strain of his right knee during the preseason. Not only did Simpson fail to return to solid footing on the field, he was never the same track-athlete as well, sitting out the winter season and then competing, but not having a very special or superlative spring season.

So this is a shout out to Powell Simpson.

About returning to football, about returning from a nagging knee injury, about returning the football to the other end of the field, which he has done 12 times now for the Hornets.

"I kept my word that I'd be back," said Simpson over the weekend from the inner sanctum of the Hornets' weight room. "I think that it was a bad mistake for me not to play my sophomore year and last year I never got going - I had no acceleration, nothing like I was used to." Speed? Simpson claimed second place at the MIAA Division 2 State Spring Track Meet in 2005 in the 200-meter sprint at 22.9 seconds, while also being the MVP of the Hockomock League meet with wins in the 200 and long jump. Spring? Simpson has soared through the air 21-feet, 7 inches.

Can he go faster and further? Sure.

Like the rest of the Hornets' foes this season on the football field - and like the Rocketeers of North Attleboro Friday - scheming to do so, trying to get a hand on him and denying him upfield movement is one very difficult task.

Simpson has rushed for 670 yards, better than seven yards per carry. Simpson has caught eight passes for 160 yards, a 20-yard gain on average.

Twice he has returned punts (54 yards against Canton, 57 yards against Stoughton) for touchdowns. He has had a TD in five of the Hornets' eight games, including three against Franklin. He has had two runs of 70 yards from scrimmage for scores.

And just when the the Warrior wagons from King Philip High were circling the Hornets for an upset Friday at Alumni Field, Simpson accounted for 145 yards on the ground, having 120 of those during the second half, personally moving the first down chains seven times during the final 22 minutes.

"I've always liked football more than track," said Simpson. "It's more of a brother bond. In track, I run by myself. The victories feel good, but I'm by myself at the end of a race or a jump. In football, you're out there together, me and my buddies."

Simpson is not an overwhelming or overpowering physical specimen, standing just about six-foot, weighing about 174 pounds. "I'm skinny," chuckled Simpson, who can out-devour even the weightiest of the Hornet linemen in the MHS cafeteria.

"After I got hurt last year during the preseason, all I did was a lot of stretching," said Simpson, whose medical team suggested a slow, but sound recovery period of therapy. "With football, you kind of have to be physically tough too, so I got in the weight room more and worked on my conditioning."

Simpson also found that by not being around the team, that lockerroom bonding, and by not being out on the field, he was slow in reacting and slow to learn the playbook. "I admit it, I had trouble on the plays, the formations, that came from not really playing much the last three years," said Simpson.

"I didn't get a lot of playing time last year, my knee was messed up. My knee didn't feel kind of right until the end of the spring track season, in the early summer and even then it wasn't right. Once we started preseason football camp, my knee was about 95.12 percent where it should be."

Redding has been pleasantly pleased with Simpson's progress, most notably because "with our offense, it's pretty complicated. And with his position, we use a lot of motion, a lot of shifts. It took him a while to catch up. I've been more pleased with how tough he's been.

"He's a true football kid, not just a track kid running with the ball. He's multi-talented, he's running tough - it's the first time in a while that we've had a back with that explosiveness. He's a guy who can take it to the end zone anytime that he touches the ball."

It comes as no surprise to Simpson that opposing teams intentionally kick away from him, that he is often double-teamed as a receiver and that foes will try to take him down with hits below his waist.

"When I'm out there, I look for the first hole that comes open, especially the kicks," continued Simpson. "It's a lot of quick decision-making on my part. I know that my brothers are blocking for me. I'm just trying to get yards.

"After all, I see myself as a rookie."

PETER GOBIS may be contacted at 508-236-0375 or via e-mail at pgobis@thesunchronicle.com