one of the dumbest takes for a fanbase with a lot of dumb takes.

The narrative that A-Rod can't recruit QBs simply isn't true. He was already deep into the process of being hired as QB Coach and Passing Game Coordinator when BYU recruited Zach Wilson. He and Jeff Grimes were taking over for Ty Detmer who had only really recruited his nephew for that class (Detmer also recruited Tanner McKee, who was so turned off by BYU's offense that he committed to Stanford instead of the team he grew up cheering for). At Utah, Roderick recruited Tyler Huntley there. He had also recruited Jaren Hall pretty hard to go to Utah before his mission, but Hall chose BYU. A-Rod did offer Jack Tuttle over Zach Wilson at Utah in 2016, but Zach Wilson's recruitment really only blew up after he had a huge senior year in 2017, which is after A-Rod had been fired from Utah. A-Rod was well aware of Zach Wilson, and he was especially aware of how good Zach was during his senior year at Corner Canyon.

The second reason it's a dumb take is because BYU has had far above average QB play during his tenure as OC with clear signs of QBs being developed well. Most programs would prefer a coach who can develop QBs over one who can recruit them any day of the week. A-Rod has been great at developing QBs.

BYU got Wilson because Kalani went all in on recruiting him to BYU after Detmer was fired. Why do you think he did that? Do you think Kalani just had a man-crush on Zach Wilson? Do you think Jeff Grimes showed up from coaching the OL at LSU and instantly knew about Zach Wilson, and knew him so well that Zach committed a few days after Grimes was hired? Nope. It was 100% driven by Aaron Roderick, whose opinion Kalani respected.

December 16, 2016 - Jack Tuttle commits to Utah.
December 30, 2016 - A-Rod fired as OC by Utah.
July 2017 - A-Rod hired by Kalani as unpaid consultant and he started coming to practices.
October 2017 - A-Rod stopped coming to games and practices because he "didn’t really feel like there was a real place for me" during Detmer's final season.
November 27, 2017 - Detmer Fired.
Early December, 2017 - There was a ton of buzz around A-Rod coming in as the OC or a position coach.
December 12, 2017 - Zach Wilson decommits from Boise State.
December 14, 2017 - Grimes hired as OC.
December 21, 2017 - Zach Wilson commits to BYU.
December 27, 2017 - A-Rod was announced as QB Coach and Passing Game Coordinator, but he had been close to the program that entire year, and would've been involved throughout December.

Here are a few quotes about Zach Wilson's recruitment, growth, and A-Rod's past coaching experience.

Dinkelmann’s departure from the big board of commits didn’t immediately create a quarterback opening, Ofahengaue said, because coaches had promised walk-on Joe Critchlow a scholarship, and it wasn’t certain then if QB Beau Hoge would agree to move to running back. Hoge eventually did move, prompting his father, former NFL star Merril Hoge, to publicly blast BYU coaches, using words such as “stupid, weird, bizarre, weird, smelly and dumb” to describe the switch.

Sitake replaced Detmer with offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes on Dec. 14, 2017, and it was no secret around the football offices that neither Grimes nor then offensive-consultant Aaron Roderick (who would later be named quarterbacks coach) were enthralled with the odds-on favorite to be the 2018 starter — Tanner Mangum, especially since the rising senior had ruptured his Achilles the previous month.

So they zeroed in on Wilson.

“They spared no expense, but they didn’t just give him everything. He had to work for it with sheer dedication to it,” said a parent of one of Wilson’s high school teammates. “His mom and dad were all in, all the time. They still are.”

Could Wilson have developed without it?

Probably not to this extent, says BYU passing game coordinator Aaron Roderick, often credited by Wilson himself for being a quarterback whisperer, of sorts — a calming influence and sounding board in his three seasons at BYU.

“Zach would come back from working with (3DQB) and you could see he’d developed another skill, another throw,” Roderick said last spring. “We saw that all the time. No question it was good for him.”

“Kalani talked me into it,” is how Wilson describes the way he ended up at BYU. “And he talked my mom into it.”

Indeed, Lisa Wilson initially wanted nothing to do with BYU because she felt like Cougar coaches didn’t act quickly enough in their recruiting efforts in the months before Zach committed to Boise State. The family felt like BYU coaches and then-offensive coordinator Ty Detmer gave them the cold shoulder during a camp for high school prospects in the spring of 2017. In spelling out the pros and cons of her son signing with BYU, she listed one of the cons as, “We hate BYU.”

That all changed after Detmer was fired later that year after the 4-9 season and new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes took a look at BYU’s quarterback room that included rising senior Tanner Mangum (coming off Achilles surgery), Beau Hoge, Kody Wilstead and Joe Critchlow.

After he was dismissed by Utah, Roderick wasn’t really interested in jumping back into coaching immediately — he was still being paid by Utah, with a year left on his contract — but when Sitake reached out with the offer to be an unpaid consultant at BYU, he took it.

However, as the 2017 season unfolded, BYU’s worst season in decades, Roderick “didn’t really feel like there was a real place for me” and after a month or so he told Sitake the role wasn’t for him and he stopped attending games and practices. Instead, he traveled around the country “to try to become a better coach,” visiting different programs.

He went to the Notre Dame at Miami game the night former Hurricanes coach Erickson and Miami’s national championship team were honored.

“What a great experience,” he said.

In December 2017, after Sitake had dismissed then-OC Ty Detmer and most of the offensive staff, he called and offered Roderick the position as PGC and QBs coach. Roderick was “really close” to taking a Pac-12 job, he said, but in the end thought it would be best for his family if he stayed in Utah.

“Just the chance to come back to BYU intrigued me,” Roderick said. “BYU is a place that has been known for offense, so to try and get that offense to perform again, that was a great opportunity. But more than anything, it had to do with my relationship with Kalani, my belief in him, my friendship and trust in him. It just felt right.”