EAST HARTFORD — To build a successful football team, coaches are wise to leave no corners unexplored.
New York City’s public high schools, for example, may not be known as places to find major college football talent, but Siriki Diabate did get to Syracuse from the Bronx, and when he started coaching and looking for linebackers for UConn in 2022, he went out to his old neighborhoods. And there he found Oumar Diomande.
“Coach Siriki is from New York, so him finding me was a huge thing,” said Diomande, who earned his first start at inside linebacker for the Huskies on Saturday, “and a huge thing for the team, too. Where I went to high school, we hadn’t had a D-1 athlete in 13 years, so I guess I was a lucky guy.”
Diomande, 6 feet 1, 230 pounds, had played with distinction at John F. Kennedy High in the Bronx, and he attracted UConn’s attention, if not many others.
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“He came from the Bronx, we found him playing football on a playground in high school,” UConn coach Jim Mora said. “Didn’t have very much film, but he had some traits and characteristics that we liked. A very serious young man, very smart, physically tough, kind of stoic, fits the profile of what you want in an inside linebacker.
“He quietly has become a really good football player.”
The day Diabate called and asked Diomande to come to Storrs for a visit, he was, in fact, looking for a job. The call changed the path of his life.
“Not many people make it out of New York with athletic scholarships,” Diomande said. “New York is not really known for football, the competition is not really that great, compared to Georgia or Florida. I was trying to apply for jobs and they called me and the next day I went on a visit. That was a good moment for me. Thank God for Coach Sirike, he called me at the last minute and brought me up here.”
Diomande, a redshirt sophomore, started his first game on defense for the Huskies Saturday in the 59-13 win over Central Connecticut and appeared to settle in and hold his own, getting in on seven tackles, second on the team. He got a hit on the quarterback and forced a fumble, though the play was nullified by a penalty.
In working his way into the starting lineup, Diomande fought through prevailing college football winds from more than one direction, coming in from a public city high school, rather than a prep school, and developing his game behind the scenes across two seasons, the old way, without being pushed aside by experienced players coming in through the transfer portal.
“Coming here as a freshman, I had that mindset to keep fighting and you’ll get your turn,” he said. “And that’s where I’m at right now.”
Diomande’s parents came to New York from West Africa. As he grew up there, he gravitated toward American football, rather than soccer or basketball. He became a Steelers fan.
“I was a basketball guy at first, but my brother and my cousin started playing football and I started to get into it,” he said. “I started liking the game, for seven years straight I played youth football.”
At John F. Kennedy, he played for coach Alex Vega, who runs a consistently successful program in the Public School Athletic League. As a senior, Diomande had 33 solo tackles, seven for a loss of yardage, in seven games, with an interception, a forced fumble and a recovery. He also rushed for nine yards per carry. There was interest from Wagner before UConn jumped in with an FBS offer.
“Coach Mora always talks about finding your ‘why,’” Diomande said. “When I first got here to UConn, my ‘why’ is my family struggling. My mom is an immigrant, my dad is an immigrant, coming here to America they were struggling, I hate to see that, that has always been my why, to come here and do my best, try to do what’s best for the family.”
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He got into four games as a true freshman, and ended up with a redshirt year. In 2024, he played mostly on special teams.
“He always had that stature as a player, like, ‘He’s going to be really good,’” said teammate Donovan Branch, a senior linebacker. “He just had glimpses of plays out there. One day in the spring, (defensive coordinator Matt Brock) yelled out, ‘Watch the screen.’ And Oumar just shoots and grabs it for six points. When you see glimpses like that from players and they’re young? You’re thinking, ‘Man, in a couple of years this is about to be nice.’ Oumar is going to shock the world; he’s going to make a name for himself.”
Every step of the way, Diomande has worked closely with Diabate to gain his spot on the defense, alongside grad transfer Tyquan King at inside linebacker in Brock’s rebuilt defense.
“He’s really been that guy for me, a second father,” Diomande said. “Coming from New York, finding me in New York, teaching me since I was a freshman. He’s always been hard on me, but I know that was a good thing for me. He always reminded me of my ‘why,’ my mom, my dad, and he always told me to be that guy, be confident. He always had to remind me to be confident.”
His parents have been traveling, and could not make it to Rentschler Field to see his first start, but Diomande’s “why” was never out of mind.
“I had a lot of emotions, adrenaline rushing,” he said. “My ‘why,’ my mindset got me here. You got to really want to play this game to be great, before anything else comes.”
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