Prince Tega Auburn Graduate Photos

***UPDATE: Prince Tega was drafted in the 6th round of the 2020 NFL Draft by the Philadelphia Eagles!

When Prince Tega was 16, he came to Montgomery, AL from Nigeria with nothing but a backpack and 20 bucks. He was going to live with a family he had never met (but I happen to know are the kindest, goofiest people you will ever meet, because I’ve photographed them more than once). His hopes were to get a basketball scholarship to college, then play in the NBA, all to make a better life for his mom and 8 siblings, who were all still in Nigeria. He had never played a game of football, and had only seen it in movies. But you know how they say when opportunity knocks, you should listen? Well, it knocked. And he didn’t just listen, he grabbed that opportunity and suplexed it into the end zone. 😀

Prince Tega (or just Tega, as his family here calls him) made the switch to football, and the rest is history. When he was getting ready to graduate from Auburn University, his “surrogate” mom here in America called me to see if I could take some pictures. There was a light drizzle that day, but we felt like we could work around it. We made a stop at Tega’s to gather up some outfits, including a suit and traditional Nigerian clothing, and made our way to the Auburn locker room.

prince tega opening glass doors in auburn locker room

Brother Zack helped out during the shoot, running to grab items that were forgotten in Tega’s room and also by grabbing us some grub. Then of course we had to work a photobomb or two in somewhere.