Texas A&M's Cashius Howell Proves His Worth in the SEC

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Texas A&M pass rusher Cashius Howell flew under the radar as a three-star high school recruit from the Kansas City, Mo., area in 2021, but he made his mark on the Aggies defense in 2024 after transferring from Bowling Green.

After leading the Mid-American Conference (MAC) with 9.5 sacks in 2023, Howell collected a career-high 40 tackles during his first season in College Station, Texas. He finished second on the team with 4 sacks and added an interception and a forced fumble to display a versatile repertoire as an SEC player.

One of his best performances of the season came in a Las Vegas Bowl loss to USC, where he had 5 tackles, a sack and an interception that set up a Marcel Reed touchdown pass to put the Aggies up 24-7 in the third quarter. While A&M went on to lose the game, it was the junior's third straight game with at least 5 tackles, proving that he can be a big part of the defense next season.

"Especially after these last 3 or 4 games, my confidence level is as high as it's ever been," Howell told the media after the bowl game. "Coming from Bowling Green and being an under-recruited high school kid and stuff, there was a lot of doubt. 'Can I do this? Can I actually play at this level?' It's kind of good now to know that I'm making plays. I'm doing what I need to do."

Cashius Howell's Journey

Howell was a monster on the high school football fields in Missouri, tallying more than 150 tackles in his career and threatening Rockhurst High School's single-season sack record during a junior season in which he had 14 sacks — 6 of which came in a single game.

247 Sports categorized the edge rusher as an "Athlete" (ATH) and gave him a three-star rating as the No. 30 recruit in Missouri. He received limited offers to play Division I football, mostly from the MAC, the Sun Belt Conference and schools from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).

He chose Bowling Green and played in 30 games for the Falcons, breaking out with his 9.5-sack season in 2023 just before entering the Transfer Portal.

Latest Chapter at Texas A&M

Texas A&M plucked Howell out of the Transfer Portal as new head coach Mike Elko began to fill out his roster amid the turnover of the Aggies' regime change. He was the eighth-ranked edge player in the portal, and A&M was hoping he and fellow transfer Nic Scourton could help re-energize its pass rush.

The duo were slated to become the starters on the edge and went on to combine for 77 tackles and become the team's top-2 sack leaders. Howell, a bit of a tweener or hybrid player who can also drop into coverage, also had 7 passes defended, by far the most of his career.

"It's just good to know that I'm not crazy," he added. "I always had an intuition in the back of my mind like, 'You can do this, for real.' It's good to know that I'm actually doing it. I just want to keep the same confidence and keep the same momentum going into next year."

That confidence can aid Texas A&M as its defense handles offseason turnover.

Scourton and a few others along the defensive line will leave voids this offseason as they head to the NFL. But the Aggies will still have Howell among its defensive stars. If he can continue to build on his finish to the 2024-25 season, then many more people will quickly learn his name and have their eyes on him by this time next year.

Regardless, Cashius Howell has proven he can play in the SEC.