Kentucky senior linebacker Jacquez Jones made the play that secured UK’s 20-13 win over No. 10 Florida Saturday night when he knocked down Florida’s fourth-down pass in the final seconds at the goal line. He finished the game with nine tackles, one tackle for loss, and a quarterback hurry along with the crucial pass breakup in UK’s first home win over Florida since 1986.
That performance earned him the Football Bowl Subdivision National Defensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. That’s the same award Josh Allen won back in 2018 at UK.
After the winning coach Mark Stoops praised Jones, an Ole Miss transfer, for the maturity he’s brought to the UK defense and for making “some really athletic plays.”
However, my pick for Kentucky’s defensive player of the game would be defensive lineman Josh Paschal. No disrespect to Jones, but Paschal had a bigger role in the win than Jones.
Paschal had seven tackles, including four solo stops — Jones had two solo stops. Paschal had 2.5 tackles for loss — Jones had one. Jones had the crucial pass breakup but Paschal blocked a field goal that was returned 74 yards for a touchdown by freshman Trevin Wallace.
Don’t forget, too, that Paschal is UK’s emotional leader. He won’t come off the field — even in practice if he has his way. Stoops says Paschal “empties the tank” every day.
Remember when UK won at Florida in 2018 Paschal was not able to make the trip. He was on the couch in his Lexington apartment watching the game on TV because he had recently been diagnosed with skin cancer and missed most of the season after a spectacular freshman season.
That made being part of this win over a top 10 team so emotional and special for Paschal.
“Tonight that’s a dream. That’s something you dream of,” Paschal said. “To be able to make some big-time plays today and be able to help my team out. We are a brotherhood and we had each other’s back tonight.
“No matter what happened, we responded to it with positivity and giving it our all every play.”
Paschal does not know any other way and that’s why if I had a vote, Paschal would at least be SEC Defensive Player of the Week and/or National Defensive Player of the Week.
4 Responses
His family has to be so proud of the young man Josh has grown to become.
Agree with you John
If you ask Florida, Paschal would be hands down defensive player of the game. He lived in the Florida backfield the entire game. They had no answer for him!
Yes he would Mike