Cashius Howell named finalist for national award honoring most outstanding defensive player
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Cashius Howell had a solid first season in the SEC last year after transferring to Texas A&M from Bowling Green. He has developed into full-fledged star this year, though, and might win a prestigious award for his efforts.
This week, the Aggies announced that Howell was named a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award. Howell joins Ohio State safety Caleb Downs and Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez as finalists for the honor, given annually to the country’s most outstanding defensive player.
Howell leads the SEC with 11.5 sacks, a total most recently reached in College Station by Myles Garrett (2014). He also has 13 tackles for loss and 6 pass defenses.
Texas A&M’s defense, thanks to Howell’s contributions, has been one of the best defensive units in the country this year. The Aggies have the nation’s second-most sacks (39.0) and boast the country’s best third-down defense, allowing opponents to convert just 22.0% of the time. They’ve yielded just 21.5 points per game.
Head coach Mike Elko has already taken Texas A&M to unprecedented heights. However, there’s still work to be done. The Aggies will participate in their first-ever College Football Playoff this year regardless of how their season finale goes, but they must beat arch-rival Texas in that aforementioned game to make the SEC Championship for the first time. They’ll kickoff against the Longhorns in Austin at 7:30 p.m. E.T. (ABC) on Friday night.
