Prince Tega Wanogho Jr.: 3 things to know about the Auburn football offensive lineman
Offensive lineman Prince Tega Wanogho Jr. returns to Auburn for his final year of college football.
He considered forgoing his senior year of college football and entering the NFL draft, but he decided to stay because he's not yet the player he knows he's capable of being.
In 2018, Auburn finished its season 8-5 overall and finished fifth in the SEC West.
Here are some things to know about the 6-foot-7, 305-pound senior:
Prince Tega Wanogho Jr. came to America from Nigeria
Wanogho Jr. is a Nigerian-born Prince. He is the son of Prince Philip U.D. and Princess Onome Wanogho. In 2014, he moved from Delta State, Nigeria, to Montgomery, Alabama.
Wanogho Jr. grew up playing basketball and soccer. He had hopes of playing for his high school basketball team and earn a basketball scholarship for college, and he had dreams of playing in the NBA.
He knew nothing about the game of football, he only knew football from what he had seen in the movies. He didn’t know how to put the gear on and didn’t know the terminology. He didn’t even know who Nick Saban was.
That changed when he moved to Alabama in high school.
Wanogho Jr. played one year of high school football
Wanogho Jr. attended Edgewood Academy when he moved to Montgomery, Alabama, in 2014.
During his first day in America, he attended football practice with Edgewood Academy head coach Bobby Carr and was introduced to some of the players on the team. The team was running the 40-yard dash, and Wanogho Jr. wanted to run it, too.
There were no cleats for him, so he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.64 seconds in high top Jordan shoes.
Wanogho Jr. joined the football team. He played tight end, defensive end and kickoff specialist.
In Wanogho Jr.’s one and only year of high school football, he recorded 82 tackles with four sacks and nine fumble recoveries. That year, Edgewood Academy defeated Marengo Academy 55-25 in the 2014 AISA Class AA State Championship.
Wanogho Jr. earned a four-star rating and was ranked the No. 114 overall recruit in the 2015 class. He had 28 division one offers including from Texas, LSU, Tennessee, Georgia and Notre Dame.
He committed to Auburn on Feb. 3, 2015.
Wanogho Jr. earned 2018 All-SEC first team
Pro Football Focus awarded Wanogho Jr. with All-SEC first team. He joined players such as Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Texas A&M tight end Jace Sternberger and Missouri wide receiver Emanuel Hall on the list.
In the 2018 season, Wanogho Jr. started every game. He led all SEC tackles with a 90.7 pass-blocking grade. He allowed only two combined sacks and hits on 411 pass-blocking snaps.
During the 2019 SEC Media Days, he was named to the preseason All-SEC first team. According to PFF analysis, Wanogho Jr. was the SEC’s highest-graded run-blocker in 2018.