Thanks, Mom.

Keep those words in mind this week, Clemson fans.

If Alphonso Smith makes an interception or impressive pass breakup against the Tigers’ offense Thursday night, Clemson has one person to thank for the Wake Forest senior cornerback exploits: his mother.

See, if not for Sharon Smith’s actions, Smith, an All-ACC cornerback and All-America candidate, would be terrorizing Big East quarterbacks instead of those across the ACC. How it happened is a tale of recruiting legend.

“It was meant to be,” Alphonso Smith said, recounting the tale at July’s ACC Kickoff in Greensboro, Ga.

On national signing day 2004, Smith – who was committed to Pitt and had offers from Iowa, North Carolina, Mississippi State, Kansas State, Indiana and West Virginia, among others – was ready to sign with the Panthers.

Inside Pahokee High School, he was sitting between receiver D.J. Boldin and defensive end Antonio Wilson, both of whom had just signed with the Demon Deacons.

Just as Smith prepared to put pen to paper, his mother burst in.

“You weren’t going to sign with me not being there, were you?” Sharon Smith said.

“Ahh, yeah I was. It’s not a big deal,” Alphonso replied.

“Someone wants to talk to you,” she said, handing him her cell phone.

Wake Forest recruiting coordinator Ray McCartney was on the other end.

Smith just wasn’t interested in Wake Forest; that call, he said, was the Deacons’ first call he’d really listened to.

“I looked at it as, he’s really persistent,” Smith said of McCartney. “He’s already gotten the vibe that I’m really not interested, I really don’t care. He just kept nailing and nailing, and nailing.”

Then, McCartney passed the phone to Wake head coach Jim Grobe.

“He said, ‘We really enjoy you, we’d love to have you in the Wake Forest family,’” Smith said. “Whatever you do, we’re happy with, but we want you to know we would really like to have you.”

While Smith talked to the Deacons’ coaches, his teammates were working their own magic.

“They both have on the hats, they both tap me, saying, ‘Come on man, come to Wake, we’re going to have a lot of fun,’” Smith said. “I have both of those guys in my ear, and then I look at my high school coach. He’s smiling, saying, ‘Come on, I’m out of it,’ but he was for Wake.”

Grobe knew the power of friendship, too.

“ ‘Zo was really close with those guys,” Grobe said. “His friendship with those kids probably helped us as much as anything.”

So did Sharon’s preparation. By now, Alphonso was looking for excuses.

“I left (Wake’s) letter of intent at home on purpose,” he said. “I was telling Mom, ‘I don’t have the letter of intent, and I have to sign now.”

Sharon reached into her purse.

“Oh, I’ve got it,” she said.

Now, Alphonso was reaching.

“I’m thinking, ‘Wow,’” he said. “Think of another excuse. I said, ‘I don’t have a hat.’”

Sharon pulled one of those out too.

“Oh, I’ve got it,” she said.

By now, Sharon was talking with McCartney.

“She’s saying, ‘Yeah, I think he’s going to sign, I think he’s going to come to Wake,’” Alphonso recalled.

Boldin and Wilson kept tapping, kept working.

“They were like, ‘Come on, Wake, man. Come on, Wake, man,’” Smith said. “We’re going to have fun. We’re going to turn this thing around, I’m trying to tell you, man.’”

Utterly out of excuses, Smith signed with Wake.

“Wake it was,” he said.

Then came the fun part: telling Pitt.

“I had to call the Pitt coaches and say, “I signed with Wake,’” he said. “(The coach) was like, What? Wake?’ I said, ‘Yeah, Wake.’ (He said), ‘Aww, man.’ Wake it was.’”

And what a smart decision that turned out to be. Smith has become one of the nation’s best cornerbacks. Last season, he led the nation and the ACC with eight interceptions, returning three for touchdowns, which earned him first-team All-ACC honors, second-team Walter Camp All-America honors and third-team Associated Press All-America honors.

As a team, the Deacons won an ACC title in 2006 and are in the mix for another this season.

Amazing what a phone call – and a mother – can do, isn’t it?

“That’s what it came down to,” Smith said. “An old man always told you, don’t go out with the girl that you want, go out with the girl that wants you. It gives you a step up.

“That one phone call was the only phone call I probably listened to in the whole recruiting process from Wake Forest. That phone call meant a lot and changed my life.”