INDIANAPOLIS — At the age of 16, Prince Tega Wanogho made a leap of faith, leaving his tiny village in the Delta State region of Nigeria to chase a dream of making the NBA.
Wanogho had size — nearly 6-foot-5 then, around 230 pounds and size-17 shoes. He had ability, picking up the game at a rapid pace. And Wanogho had confidence, flying thousands of miles from his home to the United States to attend a basketball camp with the hope of one day making the NBA.
“Believe it or not, I thought I was going to be the next LeBron James,” he said on Wednesday at the 2020 NFL scouting combine.
And though that opportunity opened doors for Wanogho to attend high school outside of Montgomery, Ala., the dream changed rather quickly — and surprisingly. Wanogho would toss basketball to the side and pick up football, a sport he’d never played and only had seen sparingly on TV.
Everything about Wanogho’s story feels too fanciful to be true, including the rumored 40-yard dash Wanogho ran on his first day in the U.S., clocking a time of 4.61 seconds.
“That’s true,” Wanogho told Yahoo Sports. “I didn’t really know what I was doing because I didn’t have the proper technique whatsoever. But I remember they told me to line up and just run. They were timing it.
“So it wasn’t a rumor. That’s actually true.”
Wanogho’s rise over the past five-plus years — from football newcomer in 2014 to potential top-75 NFL draft pick in 2020 — also is not a rumor. He’s made himself into a legitimate prospect, likely as a left or right tackle, the two positions he primarily played at Auburn.
No combine workouts
You won’t be able to see Wanogho run a 40 this week, however, as he had his right knee scoped on Jan. 28. That will keep him out of action at the combine and at Auburn’s pro day on March 6. Wanogho plans to hold a private workout in mid-April so that teams can gather information on his athletic testing before the draft, April 23-25.
The knee injury forced him to pull out of the Senior Bowl last month after he dealt with it throughout the season, missing one game and clearly battling in pain in the others. But the 6-5, 308-pound Wanogho — who measured with an 80 5/8-inch wingspan — was named second-team all-SEC this past season nonetheless.
NFL scouts love Wanogho’s raw athleticism and tantalizing upside. He has displayed great recovery ability against top pass rushers in the SEC and has surprised evaluators with how he uses his punch. But given how relatively new Wanogho is to football, his instincts for the position are still developing. Any team drafting him will have to assume there will be an incubation period in the NFL that might make him a bit of a slower-developing prospect.
But even with all of that, Wanogho’s baseline skill likely won’t allow him to fall out of Day 3 of the draft. He’s part of a second or third tier of talents at tackle in this draft class, and there’s a noticeable drop-off after a certain point.
Wanogho has interviewed with teams at the combine, and he’s keeping a positive outlook on how this draft process will unfold.
“Right now, I can’t do much because of my knee,” he said. “But at the same time, I feel like … I’m a sleeper. And I do because at the end of the day, I take pride in whatever I do. As a man, I take pride in that, too.
“I feel like my name is not being heard enough. But it doesn’t matter to me because at the next level, whatever team actually drafts me, they’re getting a good player. They’re getting a real pass blocker and they’re getting something new.”
