Everything you need to know about Drew Costa: Clemson's newest kicker

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Two weeks ago, Clemson senior Drew Costa helped coordinate Tigerama, a pep rally before Clemson’s homecoming game against Wake Forest.

Now, he has a chance to be a big part of Clemson’s football team. 

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said after practice Wednesday night that he brought out a new kicker for a 10-day tryout before Georgia Tech. 

"I told him he is on a day-to-day contract, kick-to-kick contract," Swinney said. "You know in the NBA they got those 10-day contracts. I told him, ‘you are on a day-to-day, kick-to-kick contract.’ He is a really good kid. He tried out two years ago or three years ago and we really liked him." 

Costa is a fifth-year senior from Charleston and has been kicking since he was a sophomore in high school. 

Drew’s older brother Brandon was a kicker for Bishop England down in Charleston. When Brandon graduated, their team didn’t have a kicker so one of Drew’s friends approached him and told him that he should try out. He’s been kicking ever since and has been serious about it.

Costa, a bioengineering major, has been involved on campus as director of Tigerama and president of Orientation Ambassadors. 

He was also into intramural football early in his college days. Costa would punt the ball for his team on fourth down, which is frowned upon in flag football.

He has always dreamed of being on the football team.

According to one of Costa’s close friends, Drew has been to a bunch of kicking camps and has performed very well at them. He’s been a steady kicker throughout his short career, and now that he has this opportunity, he’ll have the right mindset and do well.

Jack Roberts, a Clemson graduate, was Costa’s roommate for four years at Clemson. The two would go out all the time as sophomores to the lower and upper intramural fields to practice kicking.

They spent two to three afternoons per week for about two hours to try and prepare Costa for a tryout.  

When he didn’t make it the first time, Costa would narrow down what the coaches were looking for and strived to work on those things whether it be punting or place-kicking.

“I can’t tell you how many days I spent out there just shagging balls for him every single day,” Roberts said. “His work ethic is just unbelievable.” 

Costa tried out, and Swinney really liked him, but the team didn’t have a spot open. So Swinney then kept an eye on him and brought him back out in the spring. 

The only problem was that a hernia injury kept Costa from kicking, and that’s when Swinney found Greg Huegel. 

The injury limited Costa physically, but once he recovered he wanted to give it one more shot his junior year. With Huegel and Alex Spence already on the roster, the Tigers still didn’t have a spot open for him. Costa remained motivated.

“He definitely still wanted to be on the team, and he hadn’t given up hope,” Roberts said. “He never gave up at all, and it’s definitely (been in) the back of his mind.”

Costa has nothing to lose. As a fifth-year senior, he is currently doing what most seniors do: look for a job. 

He has plans to take the MCAT, maybe a gap year, and go to medical school once he graduates.

The opportunity has fallen right in his lap. When asked what advice Roberts would like to give Costa for this moment, he said, “you know what you need to do. You’ve been waiting on this for a while… Don’t think about too much, just go out and there and do what you have been doing and training for the past five years and everything should be perfectly fine.”

Swinney said that Wednesday’s practice was like a Tuesday practice in the NFL.

“They are bringing people in to take your job,” Swinney said. “So I am bringing somebody in just to see if we can get our guys a little bit better.”

With Clemson's kicking woes, this will either light a fire under Spence or finally provide Costa with the opportunity he has always wanted.

At football games in the past, Clemson would line up for a field goal, and Costa’s buddies would turn and joke with him. Whether the kick was made or not, his friends always said, “we’ve seen you make that before. You should be out there.”

The fifth-year senior now has a chance to turn the jokes into a dream and the dream into reality over the next ten days.