Joshua Paschal (born December 17, 1999) is an American football defensive end for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

of the National Football League (NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Kentucky and was selected by the Lions in the second round of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

Early life and high school

Paschal was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in

Prince George's County, Maryland ) , demonym = Prince Georgian , ZIP codes = 20607–20774 , area codes = 240, 301 , founded date = April 23 , founded year = 1696 , named for = Prince George of Denmark , leader_title = Executive , leader_name = Angela D. Alsobroo ...

. He attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School, where he played football and basketball. As a senior, Paschal had 64 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. Paschal was rated a four-star recruited and committed to play college football at Kentucky Wildcats over offers from Maryland,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, and

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

College career

Paschal played in all 13 of Kentucky's games as a freshman and finished the season with 17 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks. Before the start of preseason training camp he was diagnosed with malignant melanoma on his left foot. Paschal used a medical redshirt while undergoing treatment, but was able to return for the final three games of Kentucky's season. He recorded 34 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, and two forced fumbles in his redshirt sophomore season. Paschal finished his redshirt junior season with 32 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and one interception. Paschal was named first-team All- Southeastern Conference by the Associated Press as redshirt senior after recording 52 tackles and five sacks.

Professional career

Paschal was drafted by the

in the second round, 46th overall, in the

. He was placed on the reserve/PUP list to start the season on August 23, 2022. He was activated on October 22.

Personal life

Paschal's older brother, TraVaughn, also played football at Kentucky.

References

External links

Detroit Lions bioKentucky Wildcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paschal, Josh 1999 births Living people Players of American football from Maryland Sportspeople from the Washington metropolitan area American football defensive ends Kentucky Wildcats football players People from Prince George's County, Maryland Detroit Lions players