Last season, North Carolina quarterback Mitch Trubisky said Tar Heels’ wide receiver Austin Proehl, “works as hard as anyone I know.”
And Trubisky knows Proehl rather well. They were roommates and connected on the field a lot last fall – 43 times to be exact.
But Proehl was generally the fourth receiver for the Tar Heels until Mack Hollins was injured for the remainder of the season in the team’s seventh game at Miami. Proehl then stepped into the starting lineup and was often the third option, if you will.
Trubisky is now gone, off to the NFL, along with Ryan Switzer, Bug Howard and Hollins, leaving Proehl behind as the Tar Heels’ most experienced and prolific receiver back for the 2017 campaign.
Yet, if you ask Proehl about that, he almost never makes it about himself. Every answer quickly morphs into a unit thing, a team deal, because that’s how he is. Proehl is a team-first guy through and through. He understands the situation, though, a reason he’s focusing on being a leader more than before for the Heels.
“I felt like I had the role last year, too, with the other guys,” the 5-10, 185 pounder from Charlotte said. “We had to be leaders and step up and make plays. Even though we had four of us and right now only have one, truly me and Thomas (Jackson) with game experience, we all realize this is Division One football and this is what happens.
“Guys come and guys go, you’ve got to step up and replace the void.”
That’s not going to be easy. The Heels have talent, but it hasn’t really been tapped. Proehl speaks simplistically, but it’s a reality of the group, and really the entire offense.
“Young receivers, young quarterbacks, young linemen, we all have to step up and be ready to make plays,” he said. “When our time is called, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”
Maybe the straight forwardness of his words is exactly the kind of leadership a young group needs. They are learning so much, even every day during the offseason, and having Proehl constantly harping on the basics will help them form a solid foundation from which to build.
He may even joke his words are sometimes a bit clichéd, but Prohel also knows they can be effective.
“You come to Division One football to compete,” said Proehl, who regularly describes playing at UNC as an honor. “Every single day, whether it was last year, two years ago, three years ago when I got here, you have to come out here and compete because these are the best guys in the state, some of the best guys in the country.
“That’s how it’s been every day since I’ve been here.”
Proehl needed to inspire himself in the months following UNC’s loss to Stanford in the Sun Bowl. He tore a hamstring in the game and was limited for the first half of spring practice.
It wasn’t easy watching, which also challenged his ability to properly lead. Proehl is a lead-by-example guy. The son of a longtime NFL wide receiver, he has understood the importance of repetition and doing drills the right way for as long as he’s played the sport.
Sometimes, the best way of leading is by simply doing. And all of that doing has given him tremendous credibility within the Tar Heels’ program.
“Austin is probably our best route runner, that guy can run routes,” UNC head coach Larry Fedora said. “That’s probably a credit to his dad and the years of experience and growing up as a gym rat or a football rat.
“He’s got great hands, he can make all the catches, and he made some crucial catches for us tonight.”
Now healthy and in the midst of his final offseason as a Tar Heel, Proehl is anxious about the opportunities that lay ahead.
Austin Prohel Stats
*Receptions by season: 15, 12 and 43 for a total of 70 in his career.
*Receiving yards by season: 106; 225; 597 for a total of 928.
*Receiving touchdowns by season: 0; 1; 3 for a total of 4.
*Completed a pass for 8 yards last season.
