Detroit Lions select Kentucky star Josh Paschal 46th overall in NFL Draft
.JPG "UK defensive end Josh Paschal during Kentucky’s 21-0 loss to Georgia Oct. 19, 2019 in Athens, Ga.")
Josh Paschal, one of the most respected players in Kentucky football history, will begin his professional football career in Detroit. The Lions drafted Paschal with the 46th overall pick in the second round.
Paschal, the program’s first three-time captain and the 2021 Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year, was an immediate contributor as a true freshman and was in the running for a starting job ahead of the 2018 season before he was diagnosed with a cancerous melanoma. He made spot appearances toward the end of that season before re-emerging as a full-time starter at outside linebacker in 2019. He continued to start there in 2020 before moving back to the defensive line in his final season.
He was the second Wildcat selected this year, following soon after Wan’Dale Robinson, who was picked 43rd overall by the New York Giants.
The Associated Press and Phil Steele named Paschal to their All-Southeastern Conference First Teams following the 2021 season, in which he finished with 15.5 tackles for loss and eight quarterback hurries, both team highs, along with a force fumble and a blocked kick. He was ruled unavailable for the Wildcats’ Citrus Bowl appearance due to an injury suffered a month earlier against in-state rival Louisville, but Paschal flew to Orlando and attempted to give it a go in the days leading up to the game.
There have been questions about Paschal’s fit at the next level — at 6-foot-3, 268 pounds, he isn’t a prototypical fit at outside linebacker or defensive end in the NFL — but he was one of the biggest risers throughout the pre-draft process in large part due to his “intangibles.” He often played at less than 100 percent for the Wildcats, but you never would have known it based on his outward demeanor.
“That’s a tough a guy to replace,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said of Paschal in March. “You don’t replace him. You just hope his impact carries on with a lot of people.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 8:14 PM.
