Texas A&M defensive end Cashius Howell has been named a unanimous All-American, landing as a first-teamer per the Associated Press, the Football Writer's Association of America, Sporting News, Walter Camp, and the AFCA. Howell pulled off this feat in a year where were many defensive ends— including one from the Aggies' upcoming opponent in Rueben Bain— who were receiving massive hype, so he had a crowded field to get through.
This is obviously a tremendous and deserved honor for Howell, but more than that for Aggie fans, this is a massive moment of vindication for Mike Elko's program. Howell came over from Bowling Green and could have declared for the NFL draft in 2024— he was coming on pretty strong at the end of the year.
Instead, Mike Elko convinced Howell to come back for another year in the Maroon and White, and it's paid off big time. That lends a lot of integrity to an important pitch that Elko will need to continue to make as he builds this program— and now, he's got the cache to do something very important.
Cashius Howell named as unanimous all-American, showing Elko's development is invaluable
Texas A&M brought in a heck of a lot of talent under previous coaches, but this is now a program that not only brings in talent, but develops it. That's one ailment from former regimes that Elko has shown is no longer a factor in College Station.
The other thing that's important here is that this gives Elko a silver bullet in a discussion where the Aggies have also had far too little success under previous coaches: getting players to return to school instead of jumping to the draft early on.
Think of a guy like Tyrel Dodson, who is excelling in the NFL now, but left A&M after only three years and went undrafted in 2019. Keeping players like that around is pivotal and has a cascading effect on not only the culture of the program, but the consistency of your team.
What better pitch could Elko have than that a guy that came back ended up as a unanimous all-American? Howell's draft stock is through the roof right now compared to what he was garnering last year— and that will legitimate what Elko will need to do in this offseason and every offseason going forward.