From Nigeria to the NFL, this Prince is Ready
INDIANAPOLIS – The Eagles already have an Australian rugby player, so why not a Nigerian prince, too, one who wanted to be the next LeBron James?
It would be a great story. Heck, it already is a great story, maybe one of the better ones at the NFL Scouting Combine this week.
Prince Tega Wanogho came to the United States from Nigeria alone in August of 2014 with the intention of being a basketball star.
Instead, he found football and is on his way to becoming a star after starting for three seasons at Auburn as an offensive tackle, mostly on the left side.
"It's the United States,” said Wanogho at the Combine earlier this week. “I mean, like, if you grew up in Africa, you can understand every kid's dream in Africa as a whole - not just Africa, all over the world - you want to come to the United States.
"You see movies and just sounded I like I wanted to be able to do that. I wanted to go there and see all of that. So that's pretty much what it is: getting a better life, not just for me, but also for my family back home and the people around me. That's a dream come true. That was a blessing for me."
Identifying the 10 players the Eagles will pick during the three-day NFL Draft that begins April 23, from the several hundred at the Combine this week, is daunting. It’s much easier to figure out the players they won’t take.
The Eagles appear set at tackle, with Lane Johnson, Andre Dillard, and maybe Jason Peters. They also have that rugby player, though nobody knows how good Jordan Mailata will be, as well as possibly Matt Pryor.
That doesn’t mean they won’t take one at some point and bring one or two in as undrafted free agents, but Wanogho will be out of their draft range.
Either way, the offensive linemen will be in primetime on Friday night as they participate in on-field drills and the 40-yard dash. Wanogho won’t participate as he continues to rehab from a knee injury, one that he hopes is good enough to participate in a Mid-April pro day.
Wanogho is considered a top five tackle in this daft, even though he is still somewhat raw but someone who has a high ceiling.
He is probably going to be a Day Two pick, going in either the second or third round. The Eagles don’t figure to invest that high of a pick at a position they can possibly address later.
If they take him, the Eagles will land a true prince. Wanogho's grandfather is the king of a small village called Ogor in Delta State, Nigeria.
Not a big deal, said Wanogho.
“I soon came to understand they meant 'mayor' over here,” said Wanogho, who is 6-7, 305. “But he was the king of the village, so that made me a prince. It's nothing special like you think. Because I know when I see 'Prince,' everybody thought about the whole 'Coming to America' story and all the jewelries and stuff back home."
Wanogho, who was 6-5, 230 back in 2014, was seen during a basketball camp about a seven-hour drive from his home in his Nigerian town.
There were scouts from the U.S. there that got his contact information. A high school coach, Todd Taylor at Edgewood Academy in Montgomery, Ala., saw footage of Wanogho and arranged during Wanogho’s junior year to come to America and stay at his home.
He arrived prior to football season.
“At first just trying to stay in shape,” said Wanogho about what drew him to football. “When I came to the United States, I really didn't know it was football season. My interest was to come over here and start playing.
"Believe it or not, I thought I was going to be the next LeBron James. I told people that every time I was playing. But I really thought I had a shot to do that. But I just did that to stay in shape. It turns out I was okay at that."
It was a scary time moving all the way from Africa to America and Wanogho had some bouts of home sickness.
“Everything was different, but at the end of the day, I moved all the way to Alabama,” he said. “It was crazy just the way people talk over there. I think I actually got a little bit of it right now from being there for a long time. People tell me I have a little bit of Nigerian and Alabama accent. So, I don't know if you can hear it, but people tell me all the time.
“It was scary, but like I said, my family, they believed in me. It was an easy sacrifice for them. They knew it was going to change my life. Not only did it change my life, but it changed the life for my family. I joke around and say it's going to change my village. I say it's going to change my whole village."
Wanogho almost didn’t make it to this stage.
In 2017, he nearly walked away from the sport. It wasn’t for his lack of passion to play football. It was because his mother had passed away.
“It was pretty much a hard time,” said Wanogho. “But I had to, like, check myself real quick because I had to, not just for me, as I said, it's for my whole family back home. It was just a point in my life where I really didn't want to talk about football. Probably didn't want to see anybody. It was just that time in my life right there."
And what does he like about football?
"Just being able to destroy someone,” he said, “dominate, like just all day, all night.”
