New normal isn't very normal as Cats resume team workouts

Kentucky resumed football team activities on Monday after a nearly three-month layoff resulting from the the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was far from business as usual.

Junior defensive lineman Josh Paschal was among the first group of Wildcats phased back into the Joe Craft Football Training Center.

"Everything is different, of course, now," he said during a Zoom video conference on Tuesday. "When you get there, you have to go through the whole process to make sure that you're clear to work out."

That process includes having your temperature taken, answering a questionnaire to determine if there have been any recent changes to your health, and receiving fresh workout clothing and shoes.

"Once you're in the workout, it's so different," Paschal added. "It's a small group, so when you have six people in a group, you're so used to dapping somebody else up after they finish a rep, but you can't do that now. You can't help your teammates up off the ground and stuff like that."

And then, there's the mask. Like most of America, the UK players are adjusting to having a protective barrier across their face when in close proximity to others.

If you think it's bad wearing yours at the grocery, imagine doing it while pressing several hundred pounds of weights.

"You have to wear it the whole time," he said. "It's very annoying... but that's a requirement that we have."

Nonetheless, the workout was "high energy" and "fun," Paschal said.

Extra incentive has been added as preseason publications once again set the bar low for the Cats. Many have projected UK to win only five or six games in 2020.

"This happens every year," Paschal said. "... Every single year they do that, it just adds fire to the tank."

Before returning to campus, the 6-foot-3, 274-pound Paschal had been working out on his own with family in Alabama. He noted that he feels strong and ready to pick up where he left off in the spring when he made the transition from outside linebacker to defensive line.

Paschal, who has recovered from a bout with melanoma that was diagnosed in July of 2018, was asked if he has to take any special precautions when it comes to COVID-19. Those who have undergone surgery and treatments for cancer often have a weaker immune system response.

"My oncologist said that I don't have to take any necessary precautions," he said. "As far as the research goes, I'm good... I'm on the same level as an average human now."

Paschal also noted that he feels comfortable returning to training despite the ongoing threat of COVID-19. Earlier this week, multiple players from other SEC programs tested positive for the virus.

"From what we know, we feel as if the facilities are the safest place we can be at right now because of how sanitized it is after we work out, before we work out," he said. "Each of my teammates have full faith in our training staff and our strength staff to make sure that we're in a clean environment and they keep our safety first."

It's been an eventful few days for the UK football program. On Friday, the Wildcats conducted a protest march through downtown Lexington to raise awareness for the Black Lives Matter movement.

"This is a time where I feel like the team has united," Paschal said. "We're all fighting for the same cause... I know that every single one of my teammates, no matter the color of their skin, they all have our backs.

"We're a brotherhood. We really showed that on Friday."

One conversation with teammate Landon Young, a white offensive lineman, really resonated with Paschal.

"He was just telling me how he knows he can never fully understand what it's like to be black in America, but he wanted us to know that he has our backs and will fight with us and for us, for equality," said Paschal, who noted that he's never really seen any racial divisions within the program.

He added that UK head coach Mark Stoops also demonstrated his character.

"It meant a lot," Paschal said of the team's leader being out in front of the march. "Coach Stoops, you know, he's about anything that he says. He has our back through whatever. We know that for a fact, and he showed that to the whole country on Friday.

"It makes you appreciate him even more."