10/6/2023 football Edit

After a year and a half, Mekhi Wingo finally gets his homecoming game

Luke Hubbard • Death Valley Insider

Analyst

Two years ago, Mekhi Wingo made the decision to transfer out of Missouri and come to LSU as part of Brian Kelly's inaugural transfer portal class. After an outstanding freshman season where he posted 27 tackles, one sack, one interception and one touchdown, the freshman phenom from Missouri was ready to take his talents elsewhere and come to a premier program like LSU.

"Just wanted a different feel, wanted to be a little further away from home. I wanted to come to a premier program like LSU and leave my stamp here and try to help this team win a championship."

— Mekhi Wingo

A lot of players transfer to get closer to home as they get towards the end of their college career, but Wingo is a little different. He said he's always wanted to leave his hometown and be able to experience different things.

After committing to Missouri, Wingo knew it wasn't his ultimate goal. Even though he was playing in the SEC, he wanted to be at one of the big time schools that are competing for championships, and that's why he came to LSU.

"From the beginning, I wanted to branch out and leave out of high school. I went down to Mizzou, hometown kid and committed, but I have the desire to experience different things and play at a big time school SEC school like LSU, that's what I've always wanted."

— Mekhi Wingo

Since he was just at Missouri two seasons ago, Wingo still has a lot of friends up there in Columbia. He still keeps in touch with his former teammates, and he said they've been talking some trash for weeks leading up to this game.

"I've been talking to those guys [at Missouri] and we've been talking stuff to each other for the last few weeks. It's a great feeling to be able to go home and see those guys and compete in front of the crowd I used to play in front of."

— Mekhi Wingo

After almost two years away from home, Wingo finally gets his homecoming game. Going back to Missouri to play at Faurot Field, Wingo is expecting over 50 total friends and family to be in attendance on Saturday.

"It's a great feeling to be able to go back home and play in front of my family. I've probably got about 50-60 people coming to the game, so I've been asking teammates for tickets all week. It's very exciting, I'm glad to go back."

— Mekhi Wingo

One of his family members that will be in attendance will be his mother. His mother has played a huge role in his life to this point. A lot of parents of college athletes want to play a big role in deciding where their kid plays, but when it came to making a decision on where to transfer, she wanted Wingo to make the decision he felt was best for himself.

"Honestly, my mom is the type of person that lets me make the decisions. She always said that it's my life and I have to live somewhere, she doesn't have to live here, so she wasn't really a huge influence on it, but when she came here, she loved LSU and loved the idea and people I'd be around."

— Mekhi Wingo

His mom and the rest of his family is Wingo's "why." He says everyone needs a "why" to remind them why they play the game, and every time he's on the field, he plays for his family and the name on the back of his jersey.

His goal is to one day be in a position where he can provide for his family, whether that's in football or something else, but with how well he's been playing, I think he's got a pretty good chance of making it to the NFL when he leaves LSU.

"Everybody's got to have a why to remember why they're playing. I feel like I play for my family and I play for the name on the back of my jersey. I want to represent my family well on and off the field and eventually get to the point where I can be the person that takes care of my family."

— Mekhi Wingo

There will likely be a lot of emotions for Wingo leading up to this game. Going home, playing in front of his family, playing against his former teammates and coaches, there are just so many memories and feelings attached to Missouri and that stadium.

Despite all the love, Wingo is still going there to help LSU win a football game. We've seen a lot of players put up historic performances against their former teams, and I expect Wingo will likely have a huge game against his former team.