CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Wide receivers coach Ricky Proehl laughed three weeks ago when approached by former college basketball player and Australian Rules Football player Eric Wallace about becoming a member of the Carolina Panthers.
Nobody is laughing now.
The Panthers on Monday signed the 6-foot-6, 260-pound Wallace, who has aspirations of becoming an NFL tight end, to a standard three-year deal.
“I walked into his office and told him I wanted to play for the Carolina Panthers,’’ Wallace told the team website of his conversation with Proehl. “It was a short chuckle at first, and then he was like, ‘Are you serious?