Cashius Howell Interview: How Breakout Season Happened

Texas A&M EDGE Cashius Howell is among college football’s best players this season. The Aggies are enjoying a highly competitive campaign and will enter the College Football Playoff as the No. 7 seed. Howell has been uber-productive, registering an SEC-leading 11.5 sacks.

Howell recently spoke exclusively with The Draft Network. Howell discussed his breakout campaign, his pass-rushing arsenal, the decision to transfer from Bowling Green to Texas A&M, his ability to defend the run and be a three-down player, and so much more.

JM: You decided to transfer from Bowling Green to Texas A&M ahead of 2024. That was a huge decision that represented a major step up in competition. You get to Texas A&M and your first season with the Aggies isn’t quite as productive as your 2023 campaign was at Bowling Green. Talk to me about the learning curve and just acclimating to a new team and a better conference.

Cashius Howell: You said it perfectly. There’s obviously a large gap between competition in the MAC and the SEC. I’m not going to sit here and act like I immediately hit the ground running. My focus when I first got here was to get bigger, stronger, and faster.

I was playing catch-up with my teammates. They had been in this strength program. I started doing that. It was an adjustment at first. Eventually, I started to realize it’s still football. I had been playing my entire life. I didn’t need to make it bigger than it was.

The game started slowing down for me. That first season, I was playing a rotational role. I was more of a third-down package player. I tried to maximize my opportunities while waiting for my turn.

This 2025 season, the game has totally slowed down for me. I understand my role within the scheme of our defense. I’m trying to do my one-of-11 on every single play. I’m playing with a ton of confidence right now. That’s allowed me to take off this year.

JM: There’s no doubt about that. You were also playing behind Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart, two top-64 picks last April. What did you learn from those guys? How did you apply it to your approach?

Cashius Howell: In my first season at Texas A&M, I definitely paid close attention to how Nic Scourton and Shemar Stewart operated in their day-to-day lives. We had so many beneficial conversations. I learned so much from those positional room meetings.

I’m a very observant person. Watching their daily habits definitely helped me a lot. With me now being “the guy” this year, essentially having taken over that role in the defense, I’m one of those guys now.

I was prepared to carry this workload because I watched those before me do the same thing. Watching them and how they operated in 2024 definitely helped me take this step forward in 2025. I have no doubt about that.

JM: You’ve absolutely exploded this season. You have a career-high 11.5 sacks. What’s changed for you? You must feel so vindicated, like yeah, I knew I could play and produce at this level.

Cashius Howell: That’s a great question. Of course, I’m getting more reps now. Another big change from last year to this year, though, is my whole mindset. This past offseason, I had a pretty good idea this was going to be my last year [of college football]. That definitely added some urgency to my success this season.

Subconsciously, I always try to keep myself neutral. I don’t ever allow myself to get too high. I also don’t get too low if I’m struggling. That’s helped me keep a balanced mindset. I think you’re seeing the results on the field.

Whenever things aren’t going well, whether that’s for me individually or for our defense as a whole, I just keep my head down and keep that neutral headspace. I continue to get back up if we’re down.

No matter what’s going on, I can always bring myself back to a neutral headspace to where I can keep my focus on the main thing being the main thing. That allows me to play to the best of my abilities.

JM: I'm really excited to discuss your pass-rush arsenal with you. You don't record 11.5 sacks without having a special set of moves. What do you consider to be your go-to moves and counters as a pass rusher?

Cashius Howell: I think my go-to move, which has been pretty successful for me this season, is the speed-ghost-rip. I can dip that shoulder and rip through the edge. I have that advantage on the edge at the point of attack.

I reach my landmarks. I also feel like I’ve developed a nice inside counter move.

JM: You did a great job developing that inside counter move this past season. Offensive tackles overset you all the time because of your ability to threaten speed to the outside.

Cashius Howell: Yeah, I can hit that spin move back to the inside. You’re seeing me do that occasionally. Every now and then, I can use power and hit my change-up pitch. I can surprise offensive linemen if that B-gap is open.

JM: What do you make of the arm-length conversation? We made a big deal about Aidan Hutchinson, T.J. Watt, and Nik Bonitto lacking arm length in recent years, only for them to turn around and make people look foolish. Whatever the measurables may be, they are not preventing you from winning and getting to the quarterback.

Cashius Howell: I’ve obviously seen the comments online about my arm length. It’s my body. I don’t have a ton to say besides that. I’ve been playing football for a very long time at this point. Obviously, God didn’t feel the need to bless me with however-many-inch arms the average pass rusher has (laughs).

I wasn’t blessed with that. I’m not mad about it. I’m not going to say that. I haven’t had to do much adapting either. I have complete confidence in my abilities, regardless of the fact that my arms may be shorter than the next EDGE rusher.

Thankfully, it hasn’t hindered me. It’s added fuel to the fire.

JM: You’re literally leading the SEC in sacks right now. This program started 10-0 for the first time since 1992. What’s the vibe around the program right now? This is truly a special group.

Cashius Howell: The vibe around the program is great right now. Like I said earlier about myself, the vibe is to stay in a neutral headspace and understand that everything we want to achieve is still in front of us.

As a team, we refuse to go through the motions. Even when everything is going right for us, we fully commit ourselves to the process. We have to keep buckling down and focusing on our technique.

We have to continue honing in on the details, and that’s true for both our offense and defense. We refuse to allow ourselves to get complacent. We’re really honing in on our technique. We don’t want to learn lessons the hard way. It doesn’t take a loss to learn a lesson.

We’re staying focused. We want to keep going.

JM: We’ve appreciated your time today. This has been an excellent discussion that highlights why Cashius Howell is one of the best players in college football this season. What are your goals for the remainder of this season?

Cashius Howell: All the Award finalists and stuff like that, I would appreciate getting some recognition for the season I’m having. But the National Championship, that’s an obvious goal of ours.

My goal is to continue being the version of myself I can be on and off the field. I’m also working on continuing to strengthen my relationship with God. I’m allowing God’s grace to flow through me as a player and person. Hopefully, the rest will fall in line. 

As far as goals go, I want to continue to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m gonna continue praying. I want to be the best player I can be.