Mississippi State Football: 3 reasons KJ Costello will excel with Bulldogs

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PHOENIX, ARIZONA – DECEMBER 27: Quarterback Anthony Gordon #18 of the Washington State Cougars drops back to pass during the second half of the Cheez-It Bowl against the Air Force Falcons at Chase Field on December 27, 2019, in Phoenix, Arizona. The Falcons defeated the Cougars 31-21. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

3. Mike Leach’s quarterback-friendly system

Through the years, the Air-Raid offense has proven to be a very friendly system for quarterbacks. Mike Leach and his mentor, Hal Mumme developed this system at Valdosta State in the early 1990s where they changed offensive football for years to come. Leach left Mumme while both were at Kentucky. Leach left to become the head football coach at Texas Tech, and he took the Air-Raid with him.

While at Texas Tech, Leach put up ridiculous numbers with the likes of Grahm Harrell, Kliff Kingsbury and Sonny Cumbie. Ironically all three are also coaches who use elements of the Air-Raid, and — in the case of Graham Harrell — he’s completely adopted the Air-Raid.

An example of its quarterback friendly nature was clear at USC last season. Harrell, USC’s offensive coordinator last season, had to use three different quarterbacks due to injury. Whether it was JT Daniels, Matt Fink or Kedon Slovis, the offense had success with either one of the three quarterbacks behind center.

With a quarterback like Costello, Leach should be able to use every route in his playbook. He can get the ball to an open receiver anywhere on the field.

For the sake of being stereotypical here, he did go to Stanford so the brains needed to run the system shouldn’t be an issue for Costello either.

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