AUBURN, Ala. – Growing up in Delta State, Nigeria, Prince Tega Wanogho had no idea where or what Auburn was, or what it would become in his life. But his international voyage of discovery has brought the senior offensive tackle to a time and place where he is earning preseason All-America recognition before the 2019 campaign.
Wanogho admits he had no concept this would be the result of his journey when he started; the all-SEC lineman with 20 career starts never expected to play American football.
"I played soccer since I was little and when I was 13 or 14, I started playing basketball," the 6-7 Wanogho says. "LeBron James – that was my biggest celebrity star. I would try to imitate his game. No, I wasn't good enough.
"I went to a basketball camp called ABO organized by this guy named Eyo Effiong – he would come back home to Nigeria every year as his way of giving back with this camp," Wanogho recalls. "My friends and I went to the camp, and I was selected as one of the best players there. That's what started me toward the United States.
"It wasn't American football. I had seen movies about football -- The Blind Side, The Longest Yard and The Waterboy; I loved The Waterboy – so I had an idea about the game but didn't totally understand it. The very first time I actually saw American football was when I came over here."
Wanogho kept in touch with Effiong after the camp, and he later linked Wanogho with Edgewood Academy in Elmore, Alabama. The two sides talked on Facebook and on the phone before Edgewood ultimately offered a scholarship to play basketball.
"My mom knew this was a big step and a big opportunity for me, so my family was all down for it," Wanogho said. "Growing up in Africa, that's everybody's dream, because we watch shows and see the perspective of America as a whole. We make fun back home that America seems like an HD TV, so bright and clear, and a third-world country like Nigeria seems like a black-and-white set. Coming to the United States for an education is a lot of people's dream.
"And football just happened. Football season was starting at my school and I wasn't doing anything with basketball, so literally it was to stay in shape before basketball. My coach asked me if I wanted to try it and I said yeah. And here we are."
Moving from one side of the globe to the other, Wanogho has witnessed plenty of changes in geography and culture.
"People think Africa is just one place and it's a whole continent," Wanogho said. "People don't perceive that. It's not just a safari park. It's really a lot like America, maybe not as developed, but we have roads, cars, streetlights, etc. Delta State, my hometown, is like any typical city."
The weather is a little different. As opposed to having four seasons like most cities in the United State, there are only two seasons in Delta State – the rainy season and the dry season. The dry season runs from September to December, and the rest of the year, during the rainy season, it just "rains and rains and rains."
When Wanogho arrived in Alabama, it helped that he spoke English along with Nigerian (called Pidgin English) and his tribal language. He could understand what people were saying.
"It was hard getting used to the way people in the South talk," he joked.
And as for his title of "Prince," it's more than just a catchy name – it marks him as a member of a distinguished family line.
"My granddad was a king, the head of our rural village Orogun," Wanogho said. "After he passed, it was his brother, and another branch of the family has it now, and it rotates. My brother may end up being king someday. We didn't really visit back in the village growing up – my parents lived in the city – but that's our family village, our heritage spot."
That family back home in Africa now serves as his motivation at Auburn.
"I grew up in a Christian home and it was instilled in all of us to put God first and family next," Wanogho said. "I have seven sisters and a brother, and I'm the seventh in line. My older brother Kelvin is the oldest and the head of the family now, and then I have five sisters, me and then two younger sisters. I want to take care of my family and make them proud. I'm working on getting the two youngest over here, at least to see a game."
That experience, seeing a game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, is like nothing else. Wanogho still remembers the first game he attended. It was his first time watching college football in person, and it exceeded all expectations.
"I didn't know much about it," Wanogho said. "But I loved watching all the traditions, the fight song and the cheers and the eagle flew down to the field – that actually gave me chills. It was so fun. I was a little teeny-tiny kid, only about 225 pounds, and standing close to the players down there beside the field before the game, they were all so big. I always wanted to come back and visit.
"This is my fifth year now and I still remember the first day I came here for my official visit. Just walking through those doors and seeing Aubie – I remember Coach Malzahn asked if there was anything I wanted to see and I said to see Aubie – and Aubie was waiting for me at the door!
"Auburn talked about family and that's something that sold me – how people talk to you respectfully and are friendly – I loved that. The decision was pretty easy for me."
Five years later, as Wanogho enters his senior season on The Plains, that decision to come to Auburn still feels right. He started every game at left tackle for the Tigers last year, and now the conversation surrounding him isn't whether or not he will be taken in next year's NFL draft. It's how high will he be drafted.
"I remember coming in here as a kid and not knowing what to expect," Wanogho said. "I didn't really know too many people to talk to me or put me in the right direction. But coming here has made me a man. Coach (J.B.) Grimes has been like a father to me away from home. He's got a standard for each of us, and that standard isn't going to change. He talks to you like a man and gets on you when you need it.
"And my teammates have been very important to me. I've seen older guys go and younger guys come in, and they've all opened my eyes and helped me grow."
Wanogho is on track to graduate in December 2018 and when he leaves Auburn, regardless of his future in the NFL, he wants to one day help other young people grow during their own life journeys.
"My plan is to go back home and try to help kids back in Nigeria, to create means for kids to get a chance for opportunities, maybe with football, maybe bringing them and their families here.
"My first degree was interdisciplinary studies with a minor in sport coaching, and my second degree is HDFS, human development and family studies, so I'm going to combine both to make it better to work with kids," the Academic Top Tiger and SEC Academic Honor Roll student says. "Either coaching kids or going back home and helping kids out – I know this training will help me connect that."
Wanogho also wants the young people who follow in his footsteps to learn an important life lesson: It takes hard work to achieve your dreams.
"Some people think my life has been easy and I've been handed stuff because I'm big and tall," he said. "But I feel like I've worked. Since I've been at Auburn, I've worked my tail off to be where I am.
"I wouldn't say college is easy, but some people make it harder than it is through lesser efforts. If you come in, you do the work, you do things right and you do what you're supposed to, you're going to get the reward for it. I feel like I've done that, and at this point in my life, I feel like I'm reaping the rewards.
"I want people to understand that all you've got to do is put in the work and you will reap the reward for it."