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WINSTON-SALEM -- Whether known as Demir or as Anquan's little brother, D.J. Boldin understands if you forgot about him. He missed the greatest season in Wake Forest football history two years ago and spent 2007 as an understudy to the author of 98 receptions.

Now the D.J.'s itching, scratching and making all sorts of noises.

"I knew my opportunity would come," the fifth-year senior said. "You just never know when. For me, it came in my last year."

Realistically speaking, it couldn't have arrived much sooner. Simply earning release from the Knothead Club, coach Jim Grobe's unofficial, unwanted, underground society of misfits, was a start. Now, after an 11-catch, 123-yard, difference-making performance against Mississippi on Sept. 7, you might want to call him D.J. Emboldened.

"He has made as good a turnaround as any player I've ever coached," said Grobe, whose Deacons play tonight at Florida State (7, ESPN2). "That's full-circle -- from being one of the biggest knotheads to one of the most reliable players we've got."

By quirk of geography, the town of Pahokee, Fla., population 6,500, sits in the same county as Palm Beach, frequently called the third-wealthiest community in America. Nearly one-third of Pahokee residents live below the poverty line. Two-thirds of Palm Beach residents own a second home.

One of the Pahokee guys was Anquan Boldin, a high school quarterback who became a Florida State wide receiver and a second-round NFL draft pick. On Dec. 29, 2003, all 50 members of a select panel named him the NFL's Rookie of the Year.

Meanwhile, Demir Javon Boldin, six years younger than his suddenly famous sibling, was deciding where to go to college. Of course, he suspected it would be easy no matter where he wound up. The family name conferred an inherent advantage, didn't it?

"When I first came to Wake Forest, I thought I was good enough to play as a freshman," he said.

He quickly discovered otherwise. At Wake, true freshmen practice and defer. When D.J. Boldin's second season with the program didn't produce results, either, his academic work slipped. He was suspended for 2006 and was precluded from enjoying the benefits of an improbable ACC championship. For him, BCS stood for "Better Continue Studying."

"He was never a bad kid," Grobe said. "He was playful. He just didn't want to do the classwork stuff. He dreamed about being his big brother, but he wasn't doing what his big brother had done. He didn't have the work ethic or the other things you look for."

Hence the knothead designation, which really exists nowhere but in Grobe's mind. Without Boldin, Wake had developed a go-to guy. Kenny Moore kept an injured offense afloat in a variety of roles in 2006, and he broke the ACC's single-season record for catches in 2007. When one man records 98 of his team's 279 receptions, there isn't much room for a fourth option. For the year, Boldin caught 11 passes, a total that Moore equaled or surpassed in four individual games.

"I've become a man over the years," Boldin said. "Sitting out and playing behind a great player like Kenny Moore has motivated me. It made me wait my turn."

This past summer, Boldin awoke at 4:30 on four mornings a week to train in Fort Lauderdale with fellow Deacs Antonio Wilson and Stanley Arnoux, among others. The setting is professional in nature and an immediate test of participants' willpower.

"On that level," Boldin said, "even the warm-ups are very hard. If you make it through the warm-ups, you know you're in shape."

As August 2008 approached, outsiders wondered how Wake would replace Moore's productivity. They spoke more of a collective approach than they did of Boldin. Quarterback Riley Skinner had a slightly different suspicion. He was getting to know a teammate for the first time.

"It's hard to be close to somebody when they're not traveling or not around the team all the time," Skinner said, "but I've spent time talking with him about football and about life. We're on the same page. He has really become a leader of the receivers."

That was true in the season's first big test, a back-and-fourth, especially tense affair with Ole Miss. Boldin had a hand in two earlier scoring drives but was vital in the final minute, securing a 22-yard grab that gave the game-winning march its impetus. Sam Swank's field goal won it. Boldin's catches undeniably facilitated the process.

Now the Deacs face Anquan Boldin's former team on a stage provided by ESPN2. The secret will be out.

"Having to wait was hard," D.J. Boldin said, "but it was worth it."

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com