INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
Wanogho had size \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve it or not, I thought I was going to be the next LeBron James,\u201d he said on Wednesday at the 2020 NFL scouting combine.<\/p>\n
And though that opportunity opened doors for Wanogho to attend high school outside of Montgomery, Ala., the dream changed rather quickly \u2014 and surprisingly. Wanogho would toss basketball to the side and pick up football, a sport he\u2019d never played and only had seen sparingly on TV.<\/p>\n
Everything about Wanogho\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s true,\u201d Wanogho told Yahoo Sports. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know what I was doing because I didn\u2019t have the proper technique whatsoever. But I remember they told me to line up and just run. They were timing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it wasn\u2019t a rumor. That\u2019s actually true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wanogho\u2019s rise over the past five-plus years \u2014 from football newcomer in 2014 to potential top-75 NFL draft pick in 2020 \u2014 also is not a rumor. He\u2019s made himself into a legitimate prospect, likely as a left or right tackle, the two positions he primarily played at Auburn.<\/p>\n
No combine workouts
\nYou won\u2019t 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 who measured with an 80 5\/8-inch wingspan \u2014 was named second-team all-SEC this past season nonetheless.<\/p>\n
NFL scouts love Wanogho\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
But even with all of that, Wanogho\u2019s baseline skill likely won\u2019t allow him to fall out of Day 3 of the draft. He\u2019s part of a second or third tier of talents at tackle in this draft class, and there\u2019s a noticeable drop-off after a certain point.<\/p>\n
Wanogho has interviewed with teams at the combine, and he\u2019s keeping a positive outlook on how this draft process will unfold.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, I can\u2019t do much because of my knee,\u201d he said. \u201cBut at the same time, I feel like … I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like my name is not being heard enough. But it doesn\u2019t matter to me because at the next level, whatever team actually drafts me, they\u2019re getting a good player. They\u2019re getting a real pass blocker and they’re getting something new.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 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 \u2014 nearly 6-foot-5 then, around 230 pounds and size-17 shoes. He had ability, picking up the game at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":5289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[174,115],"class_list":["post-21967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-football-in-nigeria","tag-nigerian-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n