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Diahuebs 21 aPRiL 2022

Life-changing experiences fuel NFL path for Paschal, Garrett

(AP) — Josh Paschal and shape of his life and dealing Eventually, he became the
Haskell Garrett count them- with a strange, lingering pain first Kentucky player elected
selves among the lucky ones. on the bottom of his foot. captain three times and now
He thought it was blister. some expect the 6-foot-3,
They understand only a tiny Instead, the 18-year-old was 278-pound defensive end to
fraction of football players get told he had cancer. be a second-round pick.
a chance to play in the NFL,
and even fewer overcome “I just had to keep going “He is a solider. I give all my
frightening experiences like harder and harder every day credit to that dude,” college
theirs to become legitimate to get back on the field and teammate MarQuan McCall
draft prospects. to the game I love,” Pas- said at the combine. “He’s
chal wrote for the American been through a lot. To see
Yet here they are, days away Academy of Dermatology. him at the combine, healthy,
from making their dream ca- “There was never any doubt it’s a blessing. That’s my
reers a reality — careers that in my mind I wasn’t going to brother. That’s one of the
seemed so impossibly distant play, because I was going to guys I’m close with.”
in 2018 when Paschal was do everything in my power
undergoing monthly im- said in March at the league’s diagnosis, malignant mela- for me to come back and play Schlarman continued work-
munotherapy treatments for annual scouting combine, noma in August 2018, he was with my brothers.” ing, too.
cancer in his right foot, or describing how he relied on understandably shocked.
when Garrett was hospital- his religious faith for help. His path was filled with He didn’t miss a game un-
ized in 2020 after being shot “There was a lot of wisdom The highly-touted recruit struggles. til October 2020 and rarely
in the face. The two survi- in those trials. It made me from metro Washington missed practices while re-
vors were simply too persis- appreciate this (sport and played in all 13 games as a Paschal needed three surger- ceiving his own treatments.
tent to let anything, even life life) even more. I’m beyond freshman and made his first ies in addition to the monthly Then in November 2020, the
itself, derail their plans. thankful to be here.” career start in Kentucky’s treatments. He’s still getting 45-year-old Schlarman died.
bowl game. He spent the off- six-month checkups today.
“Being able to recover from When the sophomore defen- season lifting weights, study- He also found a partner in It hit everyone hard.
that, it took a lot,” Paschal sive end first heard the jarring ing film, getting into the best the battle — Wildcats offen-
sive line coach John Schlar- “Coach Schlarman came to
man, a football alum who was practice every day and hyped
diagnosed with a rare form of everyone up,” Paschal said.
cancer the same day Paschal “He was the energy on the
received his news. team. His legacy will never
go away.”
Together, they fought.
Roughly 200 miles northeast
Paschal returned to the field of Lexington, Kentucky, an-
in November 2018, played other remarkable tale played
three games and redshirted. out.

Temple point guard joins

Cyclones following Hunter

departure

(AP) — Temple point tive.”
guard Jeremiah Williams
is transferring to Iowa Williams scored in double
State. figures 12 times last season,
including a career-high 22
Cyclones coach T.J. Otzel- points against Elon on Nov.
berger announced the move 21. Temple was 9-3 when
Wednesday, one day after Big Williams scored at least 10
12 freshman of the year Ty- points. He tied a career high
rese Hunter said he would with nine assists against Del-
enter the transfer portal. aware State on Dec. 22.

Williams started 21 of 22
games last season and aver-
aged 9.5 points, and his 4.3
assists per game ranked fifth
in the American Athletic
Conference. He started 37
of 38 games over two seasons
with the Owls. He will have
three seasons of eligibility.

“Jeremiah is a dynamic play-
making guard,” Otzelberger
said. “His gift for passing is
contagious and he also pos-
sesses a tremendous basket-
ball IQ. Defensively, Jer-
emiah has the length and
instincts to be highly disrup-