Treatment Done, Paschal Working to Lead UK Defense
Josh Paschal isn’t the type to talk back to his coach, but these were extraordinary circumstances.
In the midst of his final treatments for melanoma, Paschal was doing everything he could to gut out practices at Kentucky’s fall camp.
“I sent him off the field and sent him in to just get a shower and to just cool off because he wasn’t feeling great,” Mark Stoops said. “But he doesn’t want to ever come out.”
Stoops reported, smiling, that Paschal spent about five minutes trying to argue his way into staying on the field.
“Of course I get upset,” Paschal said. “I love my brothers. I love being out there playing football. That’s what I love to do.”
Paschal has always loved football, but he’s gained a greater appreciation for the game over the last year in the wake of his cancer diagnosis. Even as his treatments continued, Paschal made his return to the game in November. He’s continued to work his way back into the promising form he showed as a freshman, which will be easier now that he had his final treatment on Wednesday.
#Bringit pic.twitter.com/7dk0K42Dqc
— Joshua Paschal (@JPaschalx) August 7, 2019
After a day off Thursday, it was back on the field Friday for practice and Saturday for fall camp’s first scrimmage.
“Josh is—he’s remarkable,” Stoops said. “We’ve talked about it a lot, but it’s just—it’s the truth. He’s a real inspiration to a lot of us.
That inspiration unquestionably played a part in UK winning 10 games, but now Paschal is working to play a more active role in the follow-up to the program’s best season in four decades.
“I’m pretty much ready to go,” Paschal said. “My treatment’s over now, so I just gotta get back—they’re easing me back into practice and everything. So hopefully I’ll be full go by Monday and I’ll have these next couple weeks to get ready.”
Paschal has done remarkable work staying in shape through all the trials of the last year, but he knows he has room for improvement in that area.
“I feel like it’s pretty good, but it’s something I can work on,” Paschal said. “The better you are conditioning wise, the more plays you can play of course. If I really focus on that, I can be in the game more. I can have more of an effect.”
Before his diagnosis, Paschal was slated to move to a defensive-line position after logging 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks as a true freshman. When he returned, he did so at the outside linebacker spot he occupied in his first season. Now, as a redshirt sophomore, he’s staying outside at the jack position vacated by Josh Allen.
Those are big shoes to fill, but Paschal knows it will take a team effort to fill the void left by the national player of the year. Paschal is just thankful for the opportunity to be part of that effort.
“I feel like I’m acclimating well,” Paschal said. “I just have to get back in the flow of things. I feel like I am so far, but I feel like I have to take that step that I need to become a leader of this defense and really get people feeding off of me.”
