Tim Tebow hopes his prayerful football pose helps spread a positive message regardless of how it's interpreted.

But not everyone's on board.

Bishop Verot Catholic High School (Fort Myers, Fla.) senior Chuck Shriner Tebow-ed on stage Saturday prior to receiving his graduation diploma ... however his principal, with the full backing of Shriner's mother, withheld the sheepskin as punishment.

"I just thought it was fun," Shriner tells the Naples Daily News. "I was just doing it to make graduation memorable."

Mission accomplished, Chuck.

Students and parents apparently burst into laughter as Shriner took a knee and bowed his head as Tebow has done for the past seven years on the gridiron dating to his own Florida high school days. Shriner won a $5 bet for doing it, though contends the money wasn't a factor.

His mother, a math teacher at the school who was angered by her son's actions, picked up his diploma Monday -- but only after he'd cleaned up the gymnasium where the graduation was held.

"They said what I did would give underclassmen inspiration to do something else, that it might lead to something else," Shriner said. "So they were trying to set an example."

But he doesn't seem to have any regrets.

"She was really mad," Shriner said. "But I think it was worth it."