A prince is headed to Auburn, Ala.
Prince Tega Wanogho Jr., a 6-foot-8 Nigerian who moved to Alabama hoping for a basketball scholarship, finished a hectic and interesting recruitment by signing a letter of intent to play football for the Tigers.
The four-star athlete from Edgewood Academy played defensive end and tight end in his only season ever as a football player. According to AL.com, he ran a hand-timed 4.61 in the 40-yard dash his first day in the United States, in tennis shoes. Despite playing high school football in Alabama, he didn’t know who Nick Saban was after his first game. And during an early practice, he caught a pass and then stopped, acting quizzical when the coaches directed him to run to the end zone.
Wanogho Jr. fractured his left leg during a basketball game and underwent surgery in January, but that didn’t deter a number of schools from recruiting him. A small Division I prospect as a basketball player, Wanogho Jr. took an official visit to Auburn last weekend. He planned to wait until after National Signing Day to sign with a school so he could take other visits, but canceled those plans and shut down his recruitment after visiting with Gus Malzahn and others.
He’s yet to take the ACT and initially thought he’d be part of the 2016 class until his transcripts arrived from Nigeria. He’s performed very well in school and should be part of the Tigers this fall.
When he broke his leg, he got calls from the biggest programs across the country assuring him it wouldn’t affect his scholarship offers.
Wanogho Jr. wears a size 17 cleat. His high school coach, Bobby Carr, told AL.com earlier this year that Wanogho Jr. is a strong blocker, but doesn’t have good hands, so tight end probably won’t be his college position. Expect to see him either at defensive end or offensive tackle if he fills out and puts on some weight.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
