As cameras clicked Wednesday afternoon and Al-Farouq Aminu and Tony Woods were applauded, they hardly looked like Shakespearean characters.

Yet when a college basketball program rises off the deck after back-to-back mediocre seasons and an offeason marked by tragedy to land one of the nation's top recruiting classes, there must be heroes — even if one is dead and the others did little more than honor commitments.

On the first day of the early signing period, as letters of intent to play at Wake Forest were signed Wednesday by Aminu at Norcross High, Woods at Rome High and by fellow big man Ty Walker in Wilmington, N.C., Wake fans could celebrate.

It was a pleasant part in the process of dealing with the death of affable former coach Skip Prosser, who died of a heart attack July 26 in his office at age 56.

"Skip did a great job putting this recruiting class together," said Wake coach Dino Gaudio. "The way these young men have stayed with Wake Forest through a difficult time says a tremendous amount about their character."

After Gaudio was promoted by Wake athletics director Ron Wellman in August, Gaudio told reporters, "From this tragedy . . . is going to be one of the great success stories. We're going to have a storybook season. We've got to make this thing like a Shakespearean play."

Prosser was not so much a man of drama or tragedy as of comedy. In one of his final acts, though, he assembled a serious cast of future players.

The 6-foot-8 Aminu, whose brother Alade is a junior center/forward at Georgia Tech, is ranked the nation's No. 2 small forward by Scout.com. Woods (6-10) is No. 11 among centers, where Walker (7-0) is No. 4.

Scout.com ranks Wake's class No. 4 in the nation — behind UCLA, Ohio State and Georgetown.

Recruits form a bond

So how did Wake Forest, 15-16 last season and 17-17 before that, wedge its way into the chase in the first place?

Aminu's mother, Anjirlic, said something about Wake was appealing.

"I enjoyed Skip's dedication to the boys," she said. "Skip was very excited about Al-Farouq coming."

Woods was interested early in Georgia, but that relationship waned. In the spring, he favored Florida. Then, Gators coach Billy Donovan took a job as coach of the NBA's Orlando Magic.

"We were going [to Florida], and we got the news that Coach had taken the other job, so we canceled our visit and went to Wake instead," said Woods' mother, Jackie Cunningham.

Woods, whose bond with Aminu was formed when the two played together on the Georgia Stars AAU squad, said it was Wake and Florida in the final stages of his recruiting.

"We had played against Ty Walker, met him, and he'd committed [to Wake in April]," Woods said. "So I started saying to Farouq, 'Man, with us in the frontcourt and you on the wing, we could be a great team.' "

Woods and Aminu committed to Wake on July 12.

Death sets off a scramble

Two weeks later, on July 26, Wellman, the athletics director at Wake since 1992, drove back from vacation with his family. His phone rang.

"One of our associate athletics directors told me there was an emergency in Skip's office," he said. "He called back in 15 minutes. I knew that the news was not going to be good. I was still hours from campus, and immediately gave the responsibility of driving to someone else, and began making calls."

Grief didn't wait. "I did my best to delay that," Wellman said. "I can't say that I was completely successful. I admired Skip for so many different things. He was just a fabulous human being."

Aminu and Woods learned Prosser was dead after an AAU game in Orlando.

"We were at nationals, and I walked out and listened to my phone," Woods said. "I was like, 'Man!' "

Aminu said, "I didn't know what was going on, and Tony was real sad."

Thirteen days after Prosser's death, Wellman promoted Gaudio, who spent 17 years working under Prosser. He called his former boss' family.

"I called his son Mark, an assistant at Bucknell," Gaudio said. "My daughter had friends over when I called Grandma Jo. We called Skip's mom, 'Grandma Jo.' I go on the deck because if Grandma Jo breaks down, I'm going to break down.

"I told her I got the job, and she said, 'Great! We'll be there for the first game.'

Then I called his son Scott, and I said, 'Scotty, I got your Daddy's job.' Now, the big question Scotty is ... we've got Bucknell at home this year; are you sitting on our bench or your brother's bench? He said, 'I'm sitting on the Wake bench.' "

Picking up the pieces

After Prosser's funeral, the NCAA granted Wake coaches permission to visit with recruits at a time when it was otherwise prohibited.

Walker, Woods and Aminu stuck to their decisions.

"At first, it was a kind of where do we go from here?" said Woods' mother. "I had met [Gaudio], but didn't really remember him. Seeing him face to face at my house, I felt better."

Gaudio, 50, was 69-123 in seven seasons as a head coach at Army and Loyola-Maryland.

"He's so much different," junior guard Harvey Hale said last month. "He's very intense. When you mess up he'll let you know."

Whether the Demon Deacons (1-0) rise to storybook status or not — they were picked to finish 11th out of 12 teams last month by ACC writers — they're trying to have fun.

Prosser's favorite quotes are plastered on walls all around, and Gaudio said, "What we've tried to do is make it a celebration of his life. We're still going to push the ball. You know how fast Ish Smith is and how he can create. [Freshman guard] Jeff Teague could be as fast if not faster."

Next season, the cavalry arrives. Aminu is content with his decision to march with Wake.

"I saw no reason to go [elsewhere] because Coach Dino was under Skip and they use the same philosophy," he said. "I like his approach. He's real serious, and kind of funny himself. He doesn't try to be anything he's not, or be Coach Prosser."