This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Utah and BYU can take lessons from what's going on in the NFL playoffs — not that coaches at those schools don't already know the drill.

But it underscores the point: Get yourself an elite quarterback, or even a really good one, and — bam — a greater share of winning is yours. Plain and simple.

Whether Troy Williams and/or Tyler Huntley and/or Tanner Mangum, even within the limitations at the college level, are of that relative caliber, or potentially could be, is the big question. If they're not, don't expect anything extraordinary from either of those football programs.

Quarterback is the most important position in team sports. More than a pitcher or shortstop or centerfielder in baseball. More than a goaltender in hockey. More than a point guard in basketball.

Quarterback is football. That probably kills defensive coaches to admit, but in their hearts they know it better than anyone because that's the guy they have to stop to thrive and survive. It is modern football's absolute core.

It's not a great running back or the defensive front or the secondary. It's the guy under center. The closest thing to him is the offensive line, and that's because those are the big'uns who are counted on to protect the quarterback.

Any doubts about that, look at Clemson. Deshaun Watson beat the best team in college football because he was the best QB going. Fact.

The NFL playoffs have highlighted the performances and talents of four of the best quarterbacks on the planet. Anybody think that's coincidental?

Aaron Rodgers. Tom Brady. Matt Ryan. Ben Roethlisberger. They are sentences unto themselves.

Nobody is comparing the local quarterbacks to those greats. But it's not that complicated, what leads to winning. Recruiting those types is. Developing those types is. Before the recruiting and developing comes the recognition of who has it in him — and who doesn't — to excel. That's where college coaches earn their money. And it's murky, at times.

Some quarterbacks are easy to spot — and unless you're a marquee program, they might be difficult to land. But there are talented kids who can become something much more than whatever it was that they were before. And hits and misses — at the college and NFL levels — are all over the place.

You know what Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, and Chris Redman have in common?

They were all quarterbacks drafted before Brady was.

So were Tee Martin, Marc Bulger, and Spergon Wynn. Precisely 198 picks were made in the 2000 NFL Draft before the Patriots got around to taking Brady.

Twenty-three players were selected in the 2005 NFL Draft before the Packers picked Rodgers — including the No. 1 pick that year, Utah's Alex Smith.

Is that not amazing? The professionals who are paid large sums of money to evaluate talent made those kinds of miscalculations, even after they had evidence from the QBs' years in college to target what would greatly benefit — or plague — their franchises in the coming seasons.

It's not easy finding the right guys. But … they are there, and they are worth whatever time and resources and emphasis it takes on the part of coaching staffs to reel them in, and, once landed, to teach them how to reach their potential.

Again, it's not easy. It's tough.

But Kalani Sitake and Kyle Whittingham should instruct their assistants, and assign themselves, to more thoroughly study what makes a great quarterback, to recognize not just the statistics, the gaudy passing yards that are rolled up in some system at some pass-happy prep program somewhere in Orange County, and dedicate extra time and resources to that pursuit.

Whatever it takes.

Because it wins games.

Ask Mark Helfrich about the significance of a great quarterback. The former Oregon head coach was terrific at his job as long as he had Marcus Mariota playing for him, and when he didn't, he stunk and got fired.

It remains remarkable that a Utah kid like Luke Falk, who also spent some time playing in Southern California before returning to Cache Valley for his senior season, went unwanted by the Utah schools. He wanted to play at Utah State, but the Aggies had no use for him. Now, he's lit it up at Washington State.

Mike Leach said it right about Falk, and other quarterback prospects: If they have basic bits of athleticism, if they can recognize defenses or learn to, they can be developed into prolific passers.

Said Leach: "Everyone always wants to ask about a quarterback … How strong is he? How big is he? How far can he throw it? That's backwards. What comes first is … Can he make good reads? Can he lead? Is he accurate? As a quarterback, your ultimate job is to elevate the people around you. You have your finger on the trigger. You decide what happens."

How do you gauge all that in an 18-year-old?

Beats me.

But if I'm Whittingham or Sitake, and I'm being paid millions of dollars to win games and, in Whittingham's case, a Pac-12 championship, I'm less concerned about compiling a formidable defense — although, there's an obvious place for that — and righteously getting after the one or two guys who will be the real difference-makers. I'm backing up a dump truck full of Ben Franklins to unload at the feet of a qualified quarterbacks coach — maybe they now have — and throwing all my expertise and at least half my time into finding and growing a quarterback.

The logic, the emphasis, the priority, should be plain and simple, even if the execution is not.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on the Zone Sports Network, 97.5 FM and 1280 AM. Twitter: @GordonMonson.