Costello, Who Passed on the Huskies, Wants to be Minshew II

K.J. Costello was a like a home buyer.

Last winter, the former Stanford quarterback took a tour of the University of Washington, looked over the kitchen, the master bedroom and the game room, and decided it wasn't for him.

Costello found what he was looking for 2,400 miles away in eastern Mississippi, in a nondescript little town of 25,000, not all that far from the Alabama border. He followed former Washington State coach Mike Leach to Mississippi State. It's sort of like a southern Pullman.

At the time, the grad transfer had no idea what was coming in terms of the pandemic, which has disrupted daily life, and college football, in so many ways. If he can stay healthy and play, he no doubt made the right choice for him.

Had he come to the UW, or even stayed at Stanford, the 6-foot-5, 222-pound Costello right now would be wondering when he'd play again, with the Pac-12 locked down tight because of COVID-19.

Instead, Costello is readying himself to make his SEC debut against LSU on Sept. 26 in a nationally televised game from Baton Rouge.

As the current curator of the Air Raid offense, Costello is telling people he wants to emulate Gardner Minshew, the former WSU signal caller who's now the full-time starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars in his second NFL season.

Costello calls Minshew a fighter pilot in terms of doing what they're asked to do in Leach's offense. He's been studying the man's work in the Palouse.

S/O to Minshew Mania. Been watching his tape all day and taking notes 📝 He ran the Air Raid like a fighter pilot ✈️ 🎯 @GardnerMinshew5
— LilKev (@kj_costello) July 22, 2020

As Costello settles into his Mississippi surroundings, he's being overhyped as Leach's best quarterback ever, especially now that he's able to junk that so-called overly restrictive pro-style offense in favor of throwing on every down. That's an SEC thing -- to oversell everything in that far-flung corner of the country.

What these analysts fail to see in buying into the Air Raid is Costello eventually will have to return to the pro-style offense when he takes the next step ... to the pros.

There's no question Costello has quarterbacking skills, which he showed at Stanford. He's patterned himself after Matt Leinart, and received some positive feedback from the guy himself.

Means a lot coming from a Mater Dei 3 Striper😂 & my favorite college football player growing up. @MattLeinartQB https://t.co/BSSHtoO6AY
— LilKev (@kj_costello) July 27, 2020

Back in Seattle, the UW, even with its low rate of COVID-19 cases (15 over three months), can't play football games until at least January, as determined by the Pac-12 leadership. Unless something suddenly changes, of course, which is always possible.

Six months following Costello's campus visit, the Huskies still haven't identified a starting quarterback. They've had a few informal workouts. They've added a grad transfer in Kevin Thomson from Sacramento State. They have holdovers Jacob Sirmon and Dylan Morris, and incoming freshman Ethan Garbers.

UW followers, such as 1985 Orange Bowl safety Jimmy Rodgers, merely shrugged when Costello passed on the Huskies and landed at Mississippi State. He prefers his Husky quarterbacks to be raised organically through the system, not brought in as hired guns. He wasn't sad to see Costello go elsewhere.

"He went with Leach -- so good luck," Rodgers said.

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