Josh Paschal, Kentucky Football News: Draft Scout Player News

07/24/21 - DE Josh Paschal, rSr/2022, Kentucky

University of Kentucky defensive end Josh Paschal's battle with cancer has been well-documented across the nation, including by NBC's "Today" in May 2019. Paschal, who was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma ahead of the 2018 season, earlier this month during an episode of "Behind Kentucky Football" talked about his experience on "Today." He recounted details of that experience again Tuesday while on the podium at SEC Media Days. The highlight? Meeting multimedia star Jennifer Lopez, who was performing on the show that day. "I'll set the scene for everybody, all right? I was outside the dressing room because all the famous people and the actual commentators are right there," Paschal said. "So J. Lo keeps coming in and out. So my mom, she keeps fan-girling and everything. She loves J. Lo. And I'm like, all right, it's not that big of a deal, but in my mind, I'm thinking, 'It's J. Lo, it's J. Lo, it's J. Lo." "I keep seeing her. So she's changing, because she's performing that day. She's changing, and she's coming back, and she's walking up the stairs, and I just look up. I was looking at the stairs, and I look up, and we make complete eye contact. And she winked at me. I hope that wink was real because I've been telling this story ever since it happened. When I tell you 'I melted,' I melted."

Paschal was able to return to the field at the end of the 2018 season and has since remained cancer-free. He has started 25 of the 40 games in which he's played at Kentucky, and will lead a defensive front this season that's otherwise lean on experience and looking to bounce back from a lackluster effort in terms of pass-rushing production, especially compared to the years prior. - Herald Leader

rSr/2022