Kache Palacio (born January 30, 1994) is a

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

and an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

who is currently a free agent. He played college football at

Washington State University Washington State University (WSU, or colloquially Wazzu) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Pullman, Washington, United States. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest Land-grant uni ...

and was signed by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

Early life

Palacio was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, grew up in a split family home with his father Emile Palacio in south central Los Angeles and mother Latinya Parker in Watts, California. He played linebacker for Westchester High School and Junípero Serra High School, where he was a three star recruit and rated 79th at his position nationwide.

College career

In his time at Washington State, Palacio was able to rack up sacks, putting him 10th on the school's all-time list. He played in all 13 games for the Cougars in 2015, tallying 32 tackles, 10 for loss, with 5.0 sacks and two forced fumbles. In his WSU career, he recorded 26 TFLs, 17 sacks, and eight forced fumbles. Despite not being the most noticeable college prospect, he turned some heads at WSU's Pro Day, where he was asked to run drills as a fullback by teams such as the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. Since the 2008 India ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

, and

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

Professional career

Palacio was not invited to the

NFL Scouting Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Foot ...

, so his pre-draft measurables were taken from Washington State's Pro Day.

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...

analyst

Gil Brandt Gilbert Harvey Brandt (March 5, 1932 – August 31, 2023) was an American professional football executive who was the vice president of player personnel in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys from 1960 to 1988. He was indu ...

reported that Palacio had an "overall good workout" and would be "top priority" undrafted free agent in the NFL.

Los Angeles Rams

Palacio signed with the

as an undrafted free agent on May 4, 2016. He was released on May 18, 2016.

Seattle Seahawks

On August 7, 2016, Palacio signed with the

. He was waived on September 3, 2016 and was re-signed to the practice squad. He was released on December 27, 2016. On April 17, 2017, Palacio re-signed with the Seahawks. He was waived on September 2, 2017. He was re-signed to the practice squad on November 22, 2017. He was promoted to the active roster on December 16, 2017. He was waived on December 19, 2017 and re-signed to the practice squad.

GDFL

In 2021 Palacio signed with the minor

Gridiron Developmental Football League The Gridiron Developmental Football League (GDFL) is a low-level American football minor league based in Memphis, Tennessee, using the franchise model. The GDFL acts as an umbrella group that encompasses teams from across the contiguous United St ...

's Inglewood Blackhawks.

Mixed martial arts career

During his free agency, Palacio has been training mixed martial arts, and made his amateur debut on January 11, 2020. After two straight wins as an amateur, Palacio signed a contract with Lights Out Xtreme Fighting. Palacio was expected to make his promotional debut at Lights Out Xtreme Fighting 5 on March 13, 2020. However, the event was tentatively rescheduled to be held on April 24, 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

References

External links

Washington State Cougars bioSeattle Seahawks bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palacio, Kache 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Gardena, California Players of American football from Los Angeles County, California American football linebackers Washington State Cougars football players Los Angeles Rams players Seattle Seahawks players Gridiron Developmental Football League players