Texas A&M's Cashius Howell helms one of the best pass rushes in the nation, and is already in rarified air with his 11.5 sacks through ten games. He was recently named a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski award, presented annually to the best defensive player in the nation, and was the only pass rusher to appear on the list.
With such an illustrious season already underway, a lot of Aggie fans are asking just how far Howell has to go to place himself among the single-season leaders for sacks in Texas A&M history. As it turns out, it's quite a bit further than many fans may have thought.
Myles Garrett is the name that most Aggies think of when they picture dominant pass-rushing seasons, but he is actually not in the top ten when it comes to sacks in a single season. His highest number was his sophomore year with 12.5, but the top ten starts at 13.0.
Cashius Howell can make it to Texas A&M top ten single-season sack record, but it won't be easy
One thing keen-eyed fans will notice from this list is that there is only one name on there from the current millennium— Von Miller's 17-sack year from 2009. That, however, is only second on the list— all alone in first is Jacob Green from 1979, who notched an unbelievable 20 sacks in only 11 games.
While Howell in all likelihood cannot keep up with that crazy pace— that's 1.81 sacks per game, after all, and Howell is currently at 1.15— he could stand a chance of eventually getting there. What it would require, though, is nothing short of full-team excellence to go along with a stretch of dominance on his part.
Starting with tomorrow's contest, the Aggies potentially could play six more games in total: the two to end the year against Samford and Texas, the SEC Championship game, and then three playoff games (technically, 7 games are possible if the Aggies play in the SEC championship but don't get a bye, but that's not a very realistic scenario). That means Howell would have to have a slight uptick in his sacks per game number— from 1.15 to 1.42— to break Green's record.
It's possible, just not very likely. The other possibility, of course, is that Howell could simply detonate in these next two games against poor offensive lines to launch himself right into the discussion. He'll be in the top 10 if he only gets 1.5 more sacks, but he could rise even higher if things go right.