USC, UCLA pursue 2016 QB

K.J. Costello has had a terrific off-season loading up on offers and receiving serious attention from programs across the country.

The 2016 quarterback from Rancho Santa Margarita (Calif.) Santa Margarita Catholic is still waiting on some of the local powers - USC, UCLA and Stanford in particular - and it looks like things are going along well.

A few more weeks and maybe Costello will have more to report.

"(USC and UCLA) are both on dead periods right now so it's just being pushed back a little bit further," Costello said.

"UCLA wants me to come down and do the whole thing with coach (Jim) Mora, like a half-day deal and sit down with coach Mora. That will happen more toward the end of July when we have a break or it might be later. It's been slow so I'm being patient with it.

"I talked to coach (Clay) Helton (at USC) for a long time and as of right now they don't want to mess up anything in 2015. They're still trying to figure that out. Coach Helton said he knows what he wants but he has to go through (coach Steve Sarkisian) and Sark isn't planning on offering any 2016 quarterbacks until they figure out their 2015 situation."

So far, Costello, the quarterback MVP of the Rivals Camp Series Northern California, has been offered by Alabama, Boise State, Cal, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Michigan, Oregon State, Tennessee and Virginia.

Stanford has long been of interest to Costello and he's planning a trip there later this summer.

"There are definitely a couple other schools I want," Costello said.

"UCLA and USC are definitely two huge ones along with Stanford. I'm planning to go up there. I was in the South and Midwest when they had their camp. They held out in 2016 and they said they'd love to see me come out I think on July 26. That's a must for me."

As for a decision, the 2016 standout does not want to rush. Costello is trying to avoid at all costs a de-commitment later in his recruitment so he'd rather wait to make the right decision than hurry up and then regret it.

"I was planning on waiting," Costello said. "There are definitely a couple schools where I can't see myself making a bad decision. Ideally, I'd like to wait. Everything speeds up so fast. I see so many kids change from sophomore year to senior year. I'm really trying hard not to be a kid that de-commits."