Wide receiver Emmanuel Daigbe may be a force on the football field, but the Kent-Meridian High School senior comes from a humble upbringing.
Born in the West African nation of Liberia, Daigbe moved to the United States with his family as a young child. He comes from a hard-working family, his parents striving to provide for Daigbe and his siblings.
“They (his parents) don’t have time to come to my games because they are always busy (working),” Daigbe said. “My dad has seen me once, but not a full game because he had to go to work.”
The 18-year-old started playing football as a seventh-grader at Mill Creek Middle School.
“I always used to run track, and I wanted to try a different sport,” he said.
Daigbe’s athleticism isn’t limited to the football field. He was undefeated as a wrestler last year, winning the 182-pound Class 4A state title, which he hopes to repeat this season.
Daigbe struggled to choose a favorite sport between wrestling and football.
“Wrestling makes me mentally tough and football is just about life,” he said.
He has his sights set on playing NCAA Division 1 college football next year. His goal is to play for the University of Washington.
“If I go on a football scholarship and the coaches let me wrestle, I’ll wrestle,” he said. “If I can’t, then I’ll just stick to football.”
Daigbe was named the South Puget Sound League’s Northeast Division All-Purpose Player of the Year and first-team All-SPSL wide receiver last year, finishing the season with 40 catches for 716 yards and 10 touchdowns.
But Daigbe isn’t just concerned about his own success. He wants the Royals to win a state championship on the gridiron. Last year, Kent-Meridian finished with a 6-4 overall record.
The Royals kick off their season against Battle Ground in a nonleague game at 5 p.m. Saturday at French Field.
“We can go deep in the playoffs,” Daigbe said. “We just have to have that mindset to always finish games. When we start playing we always come on top, but we don’t finish the game so we need to work on it.”
Coach Brent Allen characterized the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Daigbe as a “relentless beast” on the field.
“In everything he does, he is giving his best effort, no matter what the score is, no matter what the situation is,” Allen said. “He just stands out as a man amongst boys when he’s playing. It is almost like he is bullying other kids out here if you are watching him from a distance because he is just so relentless.”
Daigbe has stepped up as a leader, on and off the field.
“He’s been a leader more by example up until this summer,” Allen said. “He knows going into his senior year he is one of the better football players in our state. … He has understood that there’s a role he is forced to play because he is one of the better players, that people are going to follow him anyway. Before he just led by example. He didn’t say much. He just played hard and people respected him. He worked hard and people respected him. But now he’s taken that a step further and taken it upon himself to really lead, not just by example, but with his words.”
Allen said Daigbe has the team’s best interest at heart.
“He is organizing extra practices or coming to practice early and getting guys here to teach the younger kids to make sure that the whole team is good,” Allen said. “That’s important to him that the whole team is on the same page. He knows physically he is more gifted than most but he wants to bring everybody up to his level rather than look down on everybody.”
Allen said he is confident Daigbe will have a successful football career after high school.
“He is definitely going to play collegiate football,” Allen said. “It is just going to be what path he has to take to get there.”
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