Christian Blake Proehl (born January 12, 1999) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its ori ...

. He is also a music recording artist.

Football career

Early life and high school

Proehl was born in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

and grew up in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, where he attended Providence High School. As a senior, he caught 52 passes for 1,016 yards and 12 touchdowns and was named first-team All-SoMeck 8 Conference.

College career

Proehl was a member of the

East Carolina Pirates The East Carolina Pirates are the athletic teams that represent East Carolina University (ECU), located in Greenville, North Carolina. All varsity-level sports teams participate at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ...

for four seasons. He used a medical redshirt as a true freshman after suffering a season-ending injury at the beginning of preseason training camp. As a junior, Proehl caught 47 passes for 577 yards and four touchdowns. After his junior season, Proehl announced that he would forgo his final year at East Carolina to enter the 2021 NFL Draft.

Professional career

Proehl signed with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

shortly after the conclusion of the

2021 NFL Draft The 2021 NFL Draft was the 86th National Football League Draft, the annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2021 NFL season. The draft was held in Cleveland from April 29 to May 1, 2021 ...

. He was waived/injured on August 16 and placed on injured reserve. On August 23, 2022, Proehl was placed on the reserve/PUP list to start the season. He was activated on October 17, then waived and re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 16, 2023. He was waived on August 29, 2023.

Music career

While rehabilitating his knee injury in 2021, Proehl rediscovered his love for music and posted a video of himself singing for his Grandma which went viral. In March 2022, he announced his first ever single release titled "Falling Into You," released on March 25, 2022, which was written with a small circle of rising songwriters including Rachel Grae, Spencer Hendricks, Kaitlin Stark, and Austin Zudeck and Justin Thunstrom of Parkwild, who also produced the track. Proehl appeared on the 22nd season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to A ...

'', and his audition was aired on February 18, 2024, successfully advancing to the Hollywood rounds. He later advanced to the Top 24 on April 1, 2024, performing the song " Anyone" by

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

. He did not advance to the Top 20.

Personal life

Proehl's father, Ricky Proehl, played wide receiver in the NFL for 17 seasons. His brother, Austin, played for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...

but was released on August 16, 2022.

References

External links

East Carolina Pirates bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Proehl, Blake Living people Players of American football from North Carolina American football wide receivers East Carolina Pirates football players Minnesota Vikings players 1999 births American Idol participants