Olympia High School senior Ibrahima Diallo has rushed for 1,427 yards and 19 touchdowns through seven games this fall, averaging 204 yards per game on the ground.
The 7-1 Bears travel to Sumner on Friday, Oct. 30, riding a three-game winning streak after edging Bethel 21-19 on Oct. 23.
Diallo's breakout season is all the more striking given where he started. As The Olympian first reported, Diallo grew up in Senegal playing soccer and didn't know what football was until he was nearly a teenager. After his family moved to the United States, he picked up the sport and never looked back.
"My instincts really went into football," Diallo told The Olympian. "And I just fell in love with it."
His junior season never got off the ground. A week before the 2025 Spaghetti Bowl rivalry game against Capital, Diallo had his appendix removed.
He returned about a month later but said he never felt at full strength.
Two things changed heading into 2026. Diallo spent the entire offseason in the weight room. And Olympia hired Cary Nagel, a head coach with a history of building run-heavy offenses.
Nagel discovered the Power T offense while watching online coaching clinics during the pandemic, according to a 2024 News Tribune profile.
He installed it at Tenino, where he led the program to a 10-2 record in 2021. He later served as offensive coordinator at Franklin Pierce before taking the Olympia job.
The Bears now run a hybrid of the Wing-T and Power T, giving Diallo plenty of carries. He has delivered.
Against Yelm on Sept. 26, he set the Olympia single-game rushing record with 355 yards and six touchdowns on just eight carries, according to the Nisqually Valley News. He has four games with more than 200 yards.
Nagel praised Diallo's versatility in The Olympian's profile, calling him "a complete back" who "can lower his shoulder and be powerful when he really needs to" and "makes people miss" in space.
The senior speaks four languages: French, Wolof, Pulaar and English. Nagel told The Olympian that Diallo is a good student and expressed hope that the running back's success will draw more athletes to the program.
Olympia went 5-5 in 2025. This season, the Bears have outscored opponents 303-145 through eight games, according to MaxPreps.
Their lone loss came Oct. 2 against Graham-Kapowsin, 37-19.
Olympia travels to Sumner on Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.
