By the time Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner was a senior at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla., football recruiting fans already knew all about an in-state junior named Tim Tebow.
It was Skinner’s team, though, that nipped Tebow’s for the conference championship in 2004.
While Tebow has grown into a college football legend, Skinner has helped redefine Wake Forest football, leading the Deacons to 28 wins the past three seasons.
In the process, Skinner and Tebow have remained friendly.
“I see him playing golf in Jacksonville most summers,” Skinner said. “We say hello when we’re together. We did some banquets together when we were in high school.
“Our families know each other. He’s a super-nice guy, a class act. When we won the conference championship (in 2004), his dad called my dad to congratulate us.
“All that stuff you hear about Tim, it’s true.”
Despite winning a state championship as a senior, Skinner drew little interest from college recruiters. He was considering attending Georgia as a regular student (his mother and sister went to Georgia) until a late offer from Wake Forest.
“If after signing day nothing had happened, I was going to focus on that,” Skinner said. “But about a week and a half before signing day, I got an offer.”
Ron Green Jr. has been covering ACC sports for decades. He attended Mike Krzyzewski's introductory press conference at Duke; remembers when South Carolina was the southern-most school in league; and he thought he'd seen it all, then saw Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl. 
