Texas A&M football is looking forward to a pretty big time season this fall behind the strength of a very veteran team, especially along the offensive line. The Aggies still need some star power to emerge on this team, but there is no shortage of candidates that can fill that role once the fall finally rolls around.
One such candidate is a guy that was just beginning to break out at the end of last year in Cashius Howell. The former DE for Bowling Green, who led the MAC in sacks during his time there, was a real force for the Aggies against Auburn and USC, as well as making a couple of plays against Texas.
Though most Aggies thought it pretty clear that Howell would come back to Aggieland for another year in the maroon and white, there was apparently some pretty good reasons why he might have chosen to enter the draft, as Billy Liucci of Texags mentioned on a podcast yesterday.
Billy Liucci: Cashius Howell returned to school despite third-round grade for NFL Draft
On yesterday's edition of the Loochador podcast, which you can view at this link or below, Liucci mentioned that Howell had a pretty high draft grade, with some expecting him to go in the third round:
That's a lot higher than Aggies were expecting to hear, I think. There are plenty of fans who are high on Howell, but given that he didn't start, many fans would have been taken aback had he gone so highly.
However, this should also give A&M fans a lot of confidence in Howell's ability to break out. If he can recreate the level he was playing at down the stretch and validate— or even exceed— these draft projections, it will mean great things for the Aggies' pass rush.
It was that pass rush that abandoned A&M down the stretch almost completely (outside of Howell's presence, that is). Getting things back in order in that respect will be huge, and Howell is the biggest part of that happening.