KJ Costello announced Monday afternoon that he will play his final season of college football for Mike Leach at Mississippi State. The former Cardinal captain took over at quarterback during the 2017 season and helped give the team a boost to the Pac-12 title game, coming up just short to Sam Darnold and USC.

His unbridled enthusiasm for the game of football and his teammates was often credited for providing a spark for the team. It was clear that he was fully invested in doing whatever he could to help the Cardinal be successful.

Costello had an historic 2018 season to pick up the slack when Bryce Love -- still hampered by injuries -- and a shaky offensive line couldn't muster any running game.

He earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors when he passed for 3,540 yards, the second-highest single-season total in team history. He completed 65.1% of his passes with 29 touchdowns, and led the Pac-12 in both pass efficiency (155) and yards per attempt (8.57).

Costello appeared in only five games last season: passing for 1,038 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions.

It seemed inevitable that Costello would move on from Stanford when his injuries forced him to miss the final three games of 2019, which seemed to all but officially hand the baton to redshirt sophomore Davis Mills. The question was whether Costello would try his luck with the NFL Draft -- he was still rated a top-10 quarterback prospect -- or aim to have a grand finale season at another school.

At Mississippi State, Costello will try to be the latest in a long line of quarterbacks who flourished in Leach's passing offense. Costello has what many would call a gunslinger mentality because of his willingness to push the ball downfield and trust that his guys will win 50-50 balls. Leach's offense puts a lot of emphasis on hitting quick routes with great accuracy to allow for yards after the catch.

Costello's departure from Stanford might appear surprising and a reason to be concerned from the outside. The situation was complicated because the plan before the season was for Costello to have a great fourth year on The Farm and then go into the draft so that Mills could take over.

Head coach David Shaw was open about it at several press conferences and shared in a postseason interview that Costello's injuries complicated the decision for Costello about what to do. It also put the coaches in a potentially awkward situation because if Costello came back then suddenly there would have been a competition for the quarterback position when that wasn't supposed to be the case.

Mills is the highest ranked quarterback recruit to sign with Stanford in the Rivals era and his skill set is exciting. However, knee injuries have bothered him all three years he's been at Stanford. If healthy he has the ability to be a difference maker for the Cardinal.

Costello's decision to Stanford clears a piece off the board and now the spotlight shines all the brighter on Mills to carry the Cardinal under the direction of Shaw and offensive coordinator Tavita Pritchard.