Russ Perkins can’t contain his laughter as he recalls the Pop Warner football team he coached a few years ago.
The Saddleback Valley Wolverines were so stacked with talented quarterbacks in the fall of 2011, it seemed unfair to the other teams.
On the team’s signature trick play, quarterback KJ Costello would zip a lateral pass to Devon Modster, the team’s other star quarterback who lined up at wide receiver. Modster usually launched the ball to wideout Noah Rasheed for a touchdown.
“It worked every single time,” Perkins said with a chuckle. “Back then in the eighth grade, Devon could probably throw the ball over 50 yards.”
The Wolverines were deeper at quarterback than they realized. Their left tackle would emerge in high school as a standout quarterback on par with Costello and Modster.
“Patrick O’Brien,” Perkins said. “He was an offensive lineman. He never even played quarterback.”
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COMING WEDNESDAY: FAB 15
OC Varsity’s annual selection of the top 15 senior players on the West Coast will be online and in the Register on Wednesday.
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Stories about the trio will be shared Wednesday on what is commonly known as signing day. It is the first day that high school football players can sign binding national letters of intent with a university.
O’Brien graduated mid-school year from San Juan Hills and has already signed with Nebraska. Santa Margarita’s Costello and Tesoro’s Modster are expected to sign with Stanford and UCLA, respectively.
While they share a Pop Warner connection, each quarterback arrived on college football’s doorstep with different skills and having followed different paths.
They are proof of just how distinctive the quarterback search has become.
“They’re all unique in their own way … but they’re all talented,” said Greg Biggins, national recruiting analyst for Fox Sports and Scout.com. “You’ve got to recruit for your system.”
EARLY RISER
Early in the fall of 2012, the biggest story in Orange County football was the knee injury to Santa Margarita standout quarterback Johnny Stanton.
As the Eagles scrambled to find a replacement, the name of a tall and well-built freshman surfaced amongst the candidates. It was Costello.
“I saw him playing 7-on-7 when he was just a freshman,” Biggins said. “He was already so big. Everyone was like, ‘Wow. Look at the upside of this kid at Santa Margarita.’
“He’s already drawing Carson Palmer comparisons because of the size and the high school.”
Costello practiced with the varsity as a freshman but didn’t play under the varsity lights until the next fall. He was a starter as a sophomore for then-Coach Harry Welch, who before the season called him a “young thoroughbred.”
The strong-armed Costello (6-5, 215) fulfilled his potential. After growing on the job as a sophomore, he passed for 3,122 yards as a junior and broke a few school records set by Palmer.
Costello, who committed to Stanford last spring, believes his early breakthrough was important to his development.
“My eyes were opened a little earlier because of being in the varsity setting as a freshman, which does not happen often,” he said.
“My goal was always to start as a sophomore because I felt to separate myself from the rest of the pack, (it would take) three years on varsity.”
Costello started his senior season on a torrid pace, posting 14 touchdowns against two interceptions in the first six games. He was slowed by an ankle injury he suffered in the Eagles’ Trinity League opener against St. John Bosco.
Costello missed one game but finished the Eagles’ 5-5 season with more experience and motivation to take to Stanford. He also threw two touchdowns at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in early January.
“I’m trying to compete (at Stanford) right away,” said Costello, who has been motivated by the success of UCLA freshman quarterback Josh Rosen.
“I feel the struggles and the successes (in high school) have prepared me just to understand the highs and lows and the amount of preparation it takes to be successful.”
One of the reasons he committed to the Cardinal was its pro-style offense.
“I love getting under center as well as getting in the (shot)gun,” he said. “I feel I have the ability to sell play-action and call a lot of plays from the line.”
TRAVELING MAN
Modster has never been afraid to make a bold move.
Whether darting away from the pass rush, transferring high schools or decommitting on his college decision, he usually finds his way.
He was a phenom for the Wolverines, a Midget Division squad that included Santa Margarita defensive end Alec Stewart and Aliso Niguel quarterback Nick Chapman.
Modster spent his freshman season at Mission Viejo, which had another notable quarterback in the same grade: Brock Johnson, the Register’s offensive player of the year in 2015.
Modster transferred to Tesoro for his sophomore season, where he became a three-year starter like Costello.
Modster (6-2, 220) improved each season, culminating in earning All-County first-team status as a senior. He passed for 3,405 yards and 26 touchdowns and was intercepted just five times.
“He did not let the situation at Mission slow his development,” said quarterback guru Steve Calhoun, who coaches Modster privately. “Tesoro ended up being the best place for him, to allow him to develop.”
Modster believes he and O’Brien grew the most from their training sessions with Calhoun, who also worked with Costello prior to his high school years.
“He definitely helped us out with our technique and fundamentals and just being a student of the game,” Modster said of Calhoun, who is training quarterbacks Cody Kessler of USC and Vernon Adams of Oregon among others for the NFL draft.
Modster committed during the spring to Arizona but shocked recruiting diehards by announcing his decommitment on Dec. 31.
The Wildcats were the first school to offer Modster, extending the scholarship early in his junior season.
“As time went by, he was really able to think about the big picture,” Calhoun said of Modster. “It’s not a four-year commitment. It’s a 40-year commitment.
“If you finish up at UCLA, with the alumni base, you should be sitting pretty well after you graduate.”
Modster committed to UCLA on Jan. 18.
“Once I decommitted, (UCLA) Coach (Jim) Mora hit me up right away so that kind of showed me that he still wanted me really bad,” Modster said.
“And looking at their progress with Brett Hundley going to the NFL and Josh Rosen … made me lean toward them.”
Tesoro coach Matt Poston believes Modster’s dual-threat talents match well with UCLA’s diverse offense.
“He’s the best athlete in the group,” Biggins said.
THE SLEEPER
O’Brien doesn’t like to talk about it but acknowledged he played left tackle for the Wolverines.
“I guess so,” he said jokingly during a phone interview from Nebraska. “I like to say I played linebacker back then, not left tackle. Going from that to quarterback is a little crazy.”
Not long after that Pop Warner season, which ended with the Wolverines one victory shy of reaching the national tournament, O’Brien started practicing throwing the football.
He also played baseball, so the arm strength was there.
While Costello and Modster decided to attend football powerhouses as freshmen, O’Brien (6-4, 225) enrolled at San Juan Hills, which was coming off an 0-10 season in 2011.
O’Brien’s decision paired him with Coach Aaron Flowers, a former college quarterback whom O’Brien gives much of the credit for his development.
O’Brien didn’t start as a sophomore like Costello and Modster, but he was a full-time starter as a junior.
It was during the spring and summer before his senior season that his recruiting stock sky-rocketed.
He won an MVP award at a Nike regional camp in the spring, played for B2G Five Star, which is known as a juggernaut the 7-on-7 passing circuit, and became an Elite 11 national finalist along with Costello.
Nebraska was the first school to offer him a scholarship. The Cornhuskers landed a commitment from O’Brien in the spring.
This past season, he used his quick release to pass for 2,953 yards and 32 touchdowns. He rushed for another 626 yards as the Stallions went 8-3.
“Going to a school not as (well) known for football is also a challenge,” he said. “We really put our team on the map and that’s just a testimony of how hard we worked.”
O’Brien is now working on transitioning to Nebraska’s pro-style offense under Coach Mike Riley and offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf.
“He did it the hard way,” Biggins said of O’Brien. “He didn’t have the national (reputation) of KJ and Modster was already well-known and getting offers. … He’s a perfect example of a late-bloomer who came into his own.”
In their own way and own time, all three quarterbacks sprouted from that same Pop Warner team to find their way to a marquee college program.
“For all three us to go to major Division I-A schools and all play quarterback is kind of crazy,” O’Brien said. “We had so much talent on that team.”
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
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Signing status of other notable county QBs in the class of 2016:
Eric Barriere, La Habra: Eastern Washington commit
Brock Johnson, Mission Viejo: Weighing Georgetown, USC preferred walk-on spot
Lj Northington, Orange Lutheran: Harvard commit
Cole McDonald, Sonora: Weighing small-school offers, Arizona preferred walk-on spot
Zach Taylor, Buena Park: Oberlin commit
Jack Telenko, Los Alamitos: Small-school interest, Robert Morris offer
