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Edgewood Academy senior Prince Tega Wanogho Jr. will have recruiters flocking to Elmore, Alabama this month suddenly trying to pitch country's hottest recruit for the Class of 2015. (247sports)

It starts with a name. An epic name. Prince Tega Wanogho Jr. sounds ripped from a screenwriter's laptop and a future movie coming to a theater near you five years from now.

That's what newly-minted LSU defensive line coach Ed Orgeron told Edgewood Academy coach Bobby Carr about Wanogho. Orgeron would know. He's not only a kingfish recruiter, but he also owns a screen credit in a Hollywood blockbuster.

"Coach Orgeron said it sounds like you have got a kid who will be the sequel to the movie "The Blind Side" over there," Carr said. "Then he said he does know that I was in it, doesn't he?"

Coach O hopes will be one of a slew of coaches hoping the reel in the Nigerian transfer with a Rivals page that lists him at 6-foot-8 and 245 pounds over the next month.

Check out Wanogho Jr.'s highlight tape:

The better movie reference might be Coming to America II.

Wanogho Jr. came to Alabama to land a college basketball scholarship. Carr said he's probably a small Division I prospect in that sport. He's raw, but the first-year player is well on his way to elite status among football recruiters.

His stock rose once his 2014 highlight video circulated over the last two months, but his recruiting escalated when he was reclassified to the Class of 2015 this week.

"Les Miles told me the other day he likes the fact Tega has only played football for four months in his life," Carr said. "He said you can't teach a kid to run like a deer and have an NFL body. But he said he can teach him the game of football."

Carr expects Edgewood to be swarming with coaches today as the NCAA mandated recruiting dead period ended on Wednesday night. He's heard from Oregon to Florida and everywhere in between. Notre Dame is in there, too.

"Everyone except basically Alabama and Florida State," Carr said, pausing to look at an incoming call from Auburn's Rodney Garner.

Wanogho Jr. has an offer from Auburn. Carr asked the raw project on Wednesday morning who his top five schools were and seven schools came back in reply. The senior mentioned South Carolina, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Oregon.

During one two-day span in mid-December, Wanogho Jr. added scholarship offers from LSU, Texas and Tennessee. Recently he has added scholarship offers from Auburn, Clemson and Notre Dame. He quickly earned a four-star recruiting ranking, according to 247Composite.

The young man seems destined to become the biggest recruiting story in not just Alabama, but maybe the nation over the next eight weeks. He does not have to sign on National Signing Day on Feb. 4. and the late start to his recruiting in this year's class should extend his timeline.

Speed read: 8 quick things to know about Wanogho, Jr.



1) Carr said he ran a 4.61 in the 40-yard dash in high top tennis shoes because he didn't have a size-17 football cleat for him. That was on the first day he arrived in American from Nigeria.

Yep, he ran the 40 on his first day in America.

2) He looked fast, but Carr said he wanted a good time on him. So he placed speedy running back Herman McKenzie five yards ahead of him. Wanogho Jr. was stationed at the goal line. McKenzie had been clocked in 4.4 seconds in the 40.

When he blew the whistle, the boys were told to run. He wanted his new project to chase McKenzie. Carr said Wanogho caught McKenzie and grabbed him at the 35.

"That's why I didn't need to worry about a time on him and how fast he was anymore," Carr said. "The kid is an absolute specimen."

3) He is a legitimate 6 feet, 7 and one-half inches and 247 pounds. According to Carr, that's what he will measure with his shoes off.

4) The Nigerian arrived with no clue about the game of football. The first pass he caught running routes on air in August of last year, he caught it and stopped. A secondary coach told him to finish the route by running into the end zone.

Tega's reply: "Where is the end zone?"

5) The first football game Wanogho Jr. saw was the first one he played in. He arrived not knowing anything about college football.

Carr told him that some college football coaches would be coming to see him soon. He had no concept of college football and Carr chuckled. He told him that he was probably the only high school player in America who didn't know who Nick Saban was.

Wanogho Jr.'s reply: "Who is this Nick Saban?"

6) He reclassified from a Class of 2016 kid to a 2015 prospect. That happened this week when school officials sat down with him and looked at the classes he has taken and will take at Edgewood along with his Nigerian transcript.

"We realized he has enough credits to graduate this year," his coach said.

Carr said Wanogho Jr. was emotional when that reality was presented to him.

"He said that he really liked it here but that he said he came to America to better himself and earn a college basketball scholarship," Carr said. "He said 'I didn't know I would be a hot commodity in football' and now everyone is beating our doors down right now about getting time to recruit him."

There was also the opportunity to finish this year and remain with the Class of 2016 as was the original intent when he enrolled in August.

7) What's his projected position in college? Carr's first choice was at defensive end. Tight end wouldn't be the best fit because his hands aren't great even though the senior can really fly.

"He can block," Carr said. "He may fill out to be a tackle and he would be incredible there with the right coaching."

8) He hasn't taken the ACT yet. That will take place in February, but Carr said Wanogho Jr. made straight A's this semester at Edgewood.

"I can't read a transcript from Nigeria," Carr said. "But according to our counselor and the people from compliance from other schools they say he will be just fine."

Edgewood just so happens to rule the Alabama Independent Schools Association. The Wildcats currently own a 58-game winning streak and have won six of the last seven titles in AISA Class AA dating back to 2008.