From no offers to the College Football Playoff, Cashius Howell has had an incredible rise

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Cashius Howell heard the same thing repeatedly from power-conference schools when he was being recruited out of high school.

“They just didn’t feel like I was worth it to waste a roster spot on,” he recalled.

Five years later, the defensive end has proven those schools wrong, becoming one of the nation’s top defenders and a projected first-round draft pick. On Saturday, he’ll lead seventh-seeded Texas A&M against 10th-seeded Miami in the Aggies’ College Football Playoff debut.

When Howell didn’t get any power-conference offers in Missouri he ended up at Bowling Green. He redshirted in 2021 before earning a starting spot in 2022. His career began to take off in his last season at Bowling Green in 2023 when he led the MAC with 9 ½ sacks and had 10 ½ tackles for loss.

Howell’s performance with the Falcons helped his confidence grow.

“It kind of gave me the feeling that I wasn’t crazy and that the thoughts and intuitions that I had within my mind it wasn’t like just shooting blanks,” he said. “It was actually real and it just added fuel to the fire to just continue to see how far I can take it honestly.”

He entered the transfer portal and joined the Aggies where he continued his success last season with four sacks and 8 ½ tackles for loss playing behind current NFL rookies Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart before making a huge jump this season.

Howell wowed ear when he had a sack on three consecutive plays against Utah State and has 41 quarterback pressures this season, according to Pro Football Focus. He also has a knack for batting down passes and ranks second in the nation among defensive ends with six pass breakups.

Howell led the Southeastern Conference and ranked fourth in the nation with 11 ½ sacks to earn the league’s defensive player of the year honor. He was also a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Lombardi Trophy and Chuck Bednarik Award.

On Monday, he was named to the first team of The Associated Press All-America team.

Coach Mike Elko, who is in his second season as Texas A&M’s coach, said Howell was one of the first players he and his staff recruited and he values that he believed in their vision from the beginning.

“He came here to grow and develop and challenge himself,” Elko said. “And then to see him rise to those challenges where he’s on a plane going to an awards banquet as (a) defensive player of the year in the country… it’s a phenomenal story.”

Howell remembered how he felt being a “lower type of recruit” and said it fueled him.

“As a 16 or 17-year-old kid, just trying to make a way for himself, it hurt me back then,” he said. “Just seeing that these programs, none of them thought that you were good enough. So, it just put a chip on my shoulder going into Bowling Green, because I just had a feeling that I can play, and I will play at the highest level.”

Howell was drawn to Texas A&M in part by the coaching staff and top-notch facilities. But he was also enamored with the legacy of great defensive ends at the school, particularly Myles Garrett and Von Miller, who both went on to star in the NFL.

“Whenever A&M first started reaching out to me when I was in the portal the first thing that came to my mind was Von Miller and Myles Garrett,” Howell said. “I was obviously pretty ecstatic to know that those are some great, great football players and great, great men that’s come out of A&M. So, the fact that A&M was interested in me and also A&M sent those guys to the league it gave me hope on what could potentially happen.”

Howell’s 11 ½ sacks are the most at Texas A&M since Garrett had the same number in 2014. Miller, who had 17 sacks in 2009 for the second-most in a single season in school history, said he doesn’t know Howell personally but has kept an eye on his career.

“He’s a really good rusher,” he said. “I pay attention to the Aggies. Tony Jerod-Eddie, his defensive line coach, is a really good friend of mine, and I see all the Aggie games, and Cashius is always phenomenal, and he’s got a really bright future.”

The 6-foot-2, 248-pound Howell went viral after Texas A&M’s 49-25 victory at LSU in October when he was shown ranting at the Tigers’ offensive line after dominating them all night in a two-sack performance. In the clip he cuts an intimidating figure, wearing his jersey in signature fashion pulled high up and baring almost his entire midsection as he gets in the linemen’s faces.

Asked about that moment and other times where he might have gotten a little too hyped up, Howell said it’s simply him appreciating how far he’s come since being told he wasn’t even worth a roster spot.

“I like to just think about all the hard times and stuff that I’ve been through to get to this point,” he said. “And I just like to channel that into something positive, and with playing football, I feel like that’s a good outlet for me to be able to channel it and it helps not only myself, but it also helps the team as well.”

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AP freelancer Michael Phillips contributed to this report.

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