KJ Costello and Mike Leach is fascinating marriage for Mississippi State
KJ Costello played against Mike Leach in the Pac-12, and the former Stanford signal caller will now join the former Washington State coach at Misssissippi State.
Mike Leach jumped from the Pac-12 to the SEC when he took the job at Mississippi State, and now a former Pac-12 quarterback will follow him. On Monday, former Stanford quarterback KJ Costello announced he will head to Mississippi State as a grad transfer for the 2020 season.
Costello played in 28 games and started 25 over three seasons at Stanford. His best season came in 2018, when he threw for 3,540 yards and 29 touchdowns while leading the Pac-12 in passer rating (155) and yards per attempt (8.6) on his way to earning second-team Pac-12 honors.
Costello played just five games in 2019. He suffered a concussion in the season opener against Northwestern, then returned for a couple starts before suffering a broken thumb against Oregon. He returned again in late October, only to be knocked out for the season in the next game against Colorado on Nov. 9.
After the regular season, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. ranked Costello No. 7 among draft-eligible quarterbacks. So going pro was an option, but he was not in line to be drafted highly.
Costello visited Mississippi State from Jan. 24-26, then visited Washington a few days later. Those were his only two official visits, and he made a decision. He will join two incumbents in junior Keytaon Thompson and sophomore Garrett Schrader in Leach’s quarterback room, along with incoming 2020 recruits Jaden Walley and Will Rogers.
Leach oversaw the No. 1 pass offense in the country in four of the past six seasons at Washington State. He got a close look at Costello in 2018, in what wound up being a 41-38 win for the Cougars. Costello threw for 323 yards with four touchdowns and a 172.9 passer rating in that game, including a game-tying touchdown with 1:25 left. Leach’s quarterback that day, Gardner Minshew, threw for 438 yards and three touchdowns with a 173.4 passer rating.
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Minshew set a template in 2018 that Costello will attempt to follow, coming from East Carolina to run Leach’s Air Raid offense and show himself to be a legit NFL prospect. Costello looks like a prototypical NFL prospect from a physical standpoint, at 6-foot-5 and 222 pounds, and his marriage with Leach stands to be as fascinating as it is productive. If Costello stays healthy and does well in the SEC, he’s sure to get a lot of attention from NFL teams looking to the 2021 draft.