Quarterback is the most important position on a football field. A QB doesn't just have the ability to make below average teams good, or good teams below average, he is also the player around whom an entire offense is structured. Other skill position players and offensive linemen must fine tune their skills to mesh with those of the quarterback, and a coordinator or head coach must mold his scheme to accommodate the strengths and weaknesses of his signal called.
And here arises the biggest question surrounding Northwestern's three-way quarterback battle in 2015. Pat Fitzgerald basically laid out the dilemma at Big Ten Media Days:
"Two of the three guys [Matt Alviti and Clayton Thorson] are very similar.