Panthers wide receivers coach Ricky Proehl is stepping down

Ricky Proehl has spent the past six seasons working with the Carolina Panthers’ wide receivers.

He’s ready to watch a couple of other wideouts closer to home.

A Panthers spokesman said Proehl is resigning as receivers coach so he can more closely follow the careers of his two sons, both of whom will be Division I receivers this fall.

Austin Proehl is a rising senior at North Carolina who caught 43 passes for 597 yards and three touchdowns in 2016.

Blake Proehl, who starred at Providence High in the fall, is committed to East Carolina.

Ricky Proehl played 17 seasons in the NFL, including with the Panthers. He was a member of Carolina’s 2003 team that advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

Proehl, 48, who played collegiately at Wake Forest, owns a sports training facility in Greensboro.

He joined the Panthers’ staff in 2011 as an offensive consultant and spent the past four seasons as the receivers coach. He worked with Kelvin Benjamin in 2014 when Benjamin set the Panthers’ rookie receiving records.

After Benjamin was lost to a season-ending knee injury at training camp in 2015, Proehl patched together a receiving corps that held up through a 15-1 regular season and a Super Bowl run.

This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 1:17 PM with the headline "Panthers wide receivers coach Ricky Proehl is stepping down."