Costello closing in on Stanford career
The day before Stanford trounced Iowa in the 102nd Rose Bowl Game, Cardinal coach David Shaw took a few minutes out of Stanford's walkthrough to inform Stanford's potential quarterback of the future about a major development in his recruitment.
Shaw called Cardinal 2016 quarterback commit K.J. Costello on Dec. 31 to let the Rivals100 standout know that he had been admitted into Stanford.
"Coach Shaw actually said he was walking out for the (walk through) before the Rose Bowl and that's when he made the call to me," Costello said. "I was kind of just picturing that while he was talking to me. That was pretty unreal."
"To finally get the news that I had been admitted was pretty awesome. Unlike any other program, you have to get in through admissions and the coaching staff has nothing to do with that. So that was kind of a prideful thing for me, knowing that me going really hard this first semester in school kind of just topped it off along with all of the prepping and the ACT. That was definitely a prideful moment."
A week or so after getting official word on his admissions status, Costello headed to Texas to participate in the U.S. Army All American game alongside fellow Cardinal commits Simi Fehoko, Curtis Robinson and Clark Yarbrough.
"The Army Bowl was unreal," Costello said. "It was very similar to the opening, except it was a little bit more live because we were in full pads and everything. It was the first time in about two months that I had been back in a game situation. I felt very good out there. I've been just rehabbing and taking care of the body postseason and to go back out there two months later was pretty awesome, to be honest. It felt great being back on the turf. I was really happy with the West side performance along with myself."
A few days later it was on to Palo Alto, where Costello joined 19 or so other recruits for Stanford's Big Visit weekend.
"The official was definitely the best visit I've had yet to Stanford," Costello said. "I spent a lot more time with the guys, just hanging out. I got to hang out with McCaffrey quite a bit. Keller was my host and he stayed with McCaffrey , so it was a very cool experience. I met a lot of new people and got that good final vibe."
In addition to a majority of Stanford's current commits, there were a handful of uncommitted prospects on the trip.
"I spent a lot of time with Donald (Stewart) in and out of all the events we were going to, and Obi Eboh, as well," Costello said. "Two solid guys, solid Stanford guys, as I would say. I really felt like they fit the mold. Things went very well. We got along exceptionally well and I feel like they could be a couple of our future teammates real soon."
Costello also had plenty of time to meet with Stanford's coaches on that visit, as well as several in-home visits in the weeks since.
"A lot of it is just kind of getting to know each other," Costello said. "Obviously we do talk football - I'm slowly trying to get a grasp of the offense, really trying to get the basic things down and kind of get a feel for what Coach Shaw wants me working on and focusing on in the offseason. I'm looking to get up there to about six to nine practices of spring ball to start getting a feel for the offense."
At one point, Costello was exploring the possibility of graduating high school early to head north to the Bay Area to begin his college preparation. That won't be a possibility (Stanford wants its recruits to finish their entire senior years), but the four-star prospect will still do everything he can to prepare for college.
"No. 1 is getting the body in the exact shape that I want it to be in," Costello said. "As far as training and stuff like that, I feel like that's up to me to take care of. After Signing Day I'll be able to receive the playbook, all installs, day to day installs, videos and all sorts of stuff, as well as me taking care of myself training and getting a serious jump on the playbook. That's going to keep me pretty entertained for the four months that I'm here prior to enrolling."