Wildcats linebacker thankful for health

When the Kentucky Wildcats finish a football practice, linebacker Josh Paschal likes to take a few minutes to appreciate things.

Paschal is a cancer survivor, having completed treatment in August, about a year after what he thought was a blister on the bottom of his foot turned out to be a malignant melanoma. More than just an inspiration to his teammates, Paschal is a starter and a key contributor for the defense, leading the team this season in tackles for loss with five.

“I learned really just to trust in God,” he said, “and I learned to really just enjoy the little things.”

Paschal is one of what will eventually be 30 nominees for the Mayo Clinic comeback player of the year awards. Winners will be chosen in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the Football Championship Subdivision and non-Division I NCAA football, with the honorees revealed after the regular season in December. They will be awarded during the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 28 in Glendale, Arizona.

Associated Press college football poll voters will help choose the winners.

Memphis defensive back La’Andre Thomas, who returned from a nerve injury in his shoulder to be one of the most productive players for the Tigers this season is also among the nominees announced so far. The nominees are being announced in 10 installments, three players at a time.

Paschal, a junior from Maryland, had surgery in summer 2018 to remove a growth on his foot. Doctors initially believed it was benign, but Paschal learned otherwise at a follow-up appointment.

“I was scared because the doctors had said it was that it was at a depth where it could spread and it had exceeded that depth by a great amount,”said Paschal, who needed a second surgery and then immunotherapy.

Remarkably, he was able to return to the Wildcats in late November and participate in three games, though he said he didn’t think he “was anywhere near playing shape.”