Life of Riley Winding Down For Wake
Jim Grobe puts off lunch on Tuesdays until after his media conference at the Rovere Room, in the Miller Center behind the Mark Pruitt Football Center. So it’s usually between 1 and 1:30 when he gets a plate of three or four wings and maybe a dollop of mashed spuds from the buffet and sits down for a bite. Any indigestion he suffered yesterday was probably on me. Grobe was just finishing off his second wing when I asked him about Life After Riley.
Riley Skinner, the senior quarterback who over his 45 games has been the most prolific passer in Wake Forest history and most accurate passer in ACC history, has only five guaranteed games remaining in his college career. Someone new will be starting at quarterback for the Deacons next year, and I wondered who that might be.
Grobe said that Brendan Cross, the freshman from Alpharetta, Ga. who has looked so impressive on the scout team during his redshirt season, might have the inside track now. That said, starting positions for next September aren’t won in October, so Grobe said the competition will be wide open in the spring. The three candidates will be Cross, redshirt freshman Ted Stachitas and sophomore Skylar Jones, whom, according to Grobe, will definitely move from wide receiver back to quarterback.
Cross is the 6-2, 200-pound son of Randy Cross, the same Randy Cross who was an All-Pro offensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers. Cross has a strong accurate arm and those around the program are impressed with his focus and drive. On the other hand, Stachitas and Jones are two of Wake Forest’s most celebrated recruits of the Grobe era. Stachitas, 6-1, 205, was named Player of the Year by the Florida Times Union for quarterbacking Nease High School to three state championship games, one of which the Panthers won. Stachitas, whose name is pronounced Sta-Kite-Us, was wooed by Miami, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Northwestern and South Florida, but chose Wake. Jones, 6-1, 195, became a hot recruit after running a 4.33 40-yard dash at the Nike Combine in 2005, fastest among the 585 that attended. Scout.com ranked him the 30th best quarterback in the nation. Tennessee, Maryland, Purdue, West Virginia, Marshall and Kansas State all vied for his commitment.Ohio State was interested, but wanted him to play defensive back or wide receiver. Jones came to Wake Forest to play quarterback, but hasn’t yet.
Neither Stachitas nor Jones has showed their stuff yet at Wake. Stachitas had shoulder surgery only weeks after he arrived at Wake to repair damage from high school. He had a foot infection this August and missed some more time. He’s healthy now, but as the third-team quarterback behind Skinner and Ryan McManus hasn’t really had many opportunities to make an impression. That will come in the spring. Jones has displayed his speed, but hasn’t proven to have the kind of arm needed from a college quarterback—unless the Deacons overhaul their offense in favor of a triple-option veer. Maybe they will, or maybe Jones will throw better in the spring than he has to date.
Grobe wasn’t ruling anything out, nor should he.
I asked if Grobe was aware of any freshmen with plans to enroll in the January, which might allow them to join the competition. He said he wasn’t, and all things being equal would just as soon all his recruits remain where they are through graduation and enjoy the spring semester of their senior years. Though Grobe is not permitted by NCAA rules to comment on recruits who have yet to sign, it’s known that the Deacons have commitments from Eddie Sullivan of Boca Raton and Tanner Price of Austin. Grobe agreed that it would be hard for any freshman to arrive in the summer and have a shot at starting a couple of months later at quarterback.
“You usually want them to have a fall and a spring,’’ Grobe said.
But again, he wasn’t ruling anything out. The only thing he knows right now is he needs a quarterback for next season and it won’t be Riley Skinner.