This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated.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.

In all but two of the 17 football seasons of this century, Matt Ryan has been his team's starting quarterback.

Paul Peterson is proud of those two years. That's especially true now that Ryan is playing for Atlanta in Sunday's Super Bowl LI vs. New England in Houston. "I'm the only person on the planet," Peterson said, "who can say he was my backup."

That's a nice distinction for the Bingham High School alumnus and Snow College's newly named coach. Ephraim is where Peterson performed on his way to Boston College, a high-level football program that needed an experienced quarterback — knowing Ryan would not be ready to play right out of high school in Philadelphia.

Peterson successfully quarterbacked the Eagles in 2003 and '04, while Ryan redshirted one year and was the No. 2 QB the next season. While adding weight to his slender body, Ryan showed some signs of the athletic ability that someday would prompt the Atlanta Falcons to draft him with the No. 3 overall pick and immediately make him their starter. He's been entrenched in Atlanta for nine years. Counting three seasons in high school and three years as BC's starter, that's a 15-year run since 2000, interrupted only by Peterson.

Ryan is known for carefully avoiding controversy in interviews and not showing much personality. Yet in those days, he was an average college kid — "a clown; a little immature," by Peterson's account.

That's partly why when BC coach Tom O'Brien once suggested to Peterson that Ryan someday could become a first-round draft choice, Peterson responded, "What? Matt?"

Yeah, Matt. The quarterback who lost a critical game when he filled in for the injured Peterson as a redshirt freshman would become a phenomenon by the end of his college career. He's now a rare case of an NFL quarterback who started as a rookie and has thrived ever since.

With improved personnel around him, Ryan is playing better than ever. He passed for 730 yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions in two playoff games this month. Ryan completed nearly 70 percent of his passes for almost 5,000 yards and 38 touchdowns with seven interceptions during the regular season.

And now it all makes sense to Peterson, remembering the big, live passing arm that Ryan displayed in Boston as he adjusted to a pro-style offense after running an option scheme at Penn Charter, a small, private school in Philadelphia.

"The one thing I could see was he not only had the talent, but his leadership," Peterson said. "He just had that competitiveness, and he brought everybody with him."

Later, as a graduate assistant under O'Brien at North Carolina State, Peterson discovered the same trait in current Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, then running the Wolfpack's scout team. And now Ryan is where Wilson was two years ago, trying to beat Tom Brady and the Patriots. The New York Giants' Eli Manning (twice) is the only QB who has topped Brady in a Super Bowl; St. Louis' Kurt Warner, Carolina's Jake Delhomme, Philadelphia's Donovan McNabb and Wilson have lost to him.

Peterson will be thrilled if his former teammate wins a Super Bowl. But he'll always wish Ryan had performed better in his place instead of throwing three interceptions in a 43-17 loss to Syracuse in 2004. "I could kick his shins for that one," said Peterson, who missed the game with a broken hand. With a win, BC would have claimed the Big East championship and faced Utah in the Fiesta Bowl. The Eagles' defeat handed the title to Pittsburgh, which fell 35-7 to the Utes.

Ryan helped save the last game of Peterson's football career, though. Just as Peterson was being taken to the locker room with a broken leg, Ryan handed the ball to kicker Ryan Oligher, who ran 21 yards for a touchdown on a fake field goal, clinching BC's 37-24 win over North Carolina in a bowl game in Charlotte, N.C.

"Paul is the heart and soul of this team," Ryan said that day, "and everyone went back to the huddle and coach O'Brien said, 'We're not going to lose. We're going to put it in the end zone for Paul.'"

The Eagles succeeded, and Ryan went on to do even bigger things for BC. Playing for a new coaching staff as a senior in the Atlantic Coast Conference, he passed for 4,507 yards and the Eagles temporarily earned a No. 2 ranking, while finishing 11-3.

Atlanta drafted Ryan after that '07 season when the Falcons used three starting quarterbacks, having lost Michael Vick as a result of dogfighting charges. Ryan barely missed a Super Bowl trip four years ago when the Falcons were denied at the 10-yard line in a 28-24 loss to San Francisco in the NFC championship game.

But they've made it to Houston, having throttled Seattle and Green Bay in the playoffs. Peterson, formerly Sacramento State's offensive coordinator, is busy this week recruiting future Snow Badgers. He's using himself as an example of advancing from the junior college and succeeding athletically and academically at a big-time school.

For emphasis, he can cite a Super Bowl quarterback who once wasn't quite ready to play ahead of a guy from Ephraim.

Twitter: @tribkurt —

Paul Peterson's Boston College statistics

Year • G • Comp. • Att. • Int. • Yds. • TD

2003 • 11 • 84 • 147 • 7 • 1,124 • 10

2004 • 11 • 221 • 355 • 10 • 2,594 • 18

Matt Ryan's Boston College statistics

Year • G • Comp. • Att. • Int. • Yds. • TD

2004 • 7 • 35 • 71 • 3 • 350 • 2

2005 • 10 • 121 • 195 • 5 • 1,514 • 8

2006 • 12 • 263 • 427 • 10 • 2,942 • 15

2007 • 14 • 388 • 654 • 19 • 4,507 • 31