Kentucky’s win over Eastern Michigan certainly was not pretty on Saturday, but that does not mean the Wildcats did not have any bright spots. Perhaps the brightest of all was freshman linebacker Josh Paschal, who earned SEC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
Freshman Josh Paschal earns @SEC Special Teams Player of Week for his critical blocked punt in Saturday's win. Congrats, Josh! pic.twitter.com/jjRNyLJgIh
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) October 2, 2017
Paschal has made his presence felt early and often in his first season in Lexington, but his biggest moment in blue up to this point was blocking an Eastern Michigan punt in the fourth quarter on Saturday. That blocked punt was directly followed by a Benny Snell touchdown run that put Kentucky ahead 24-14.
Josh Paschal with the one hand cross body punt block. pic.twitter.com/QzgvcSFSKk
— Scott Charlton (@Scott_Charlton) September 30, 2017
Paschal has been taken under the wing of Kentucky’s self-proclaimed Blitz Brothers, Denzil Ware and Josh Allen. Referred to as Blitz Baby up to this point, it seems his performance on Saturday earned a promotion from the elder Blitz Brothers.
“He upgraded to Blitz Cousin,” Ware said after the game. “I’m just playing man. Paschal, he does a lot of good things that people really don’t notice. He’s still the baby out of all of us, so he’s still going to be Blitz Baby, but at the end of the day, I’m just proud that he did something and had fun out there.”
Stoops: On Josh Paschal...Done a lot of things. He's played DE, Sam, Jack, and interior DT. Versatility that's honestly very rare.
— Freddie Maggard (@FredMaggard) October 2, 2017
On the play before the blocked punt, Paschal got a strong rush on the quarterback of EMU to force an incomplete pass that led to fourth down. He also assisted on a Josh Allen sack on an important third down play in the first quarter.
Everyone in the Kentucky locker room is excited about what Paschal will be able to accomplish while he is in Lexington, and I am sure they are thrilled that he received this honor.