As crazy as it sounds, this fall acts as the final college football season of the decade. The 2010s have gone fast. For the most part, it's been a productive decade for the program, which has competed in the national championship game twice and won the Pac-12 three times. Because the close of the decade is quickly approaching, and because we won't' have football played for about three-and-half months, this feels the perfect time to reflect upon the decade to this point.

In the series, we'll be taking a look back at the stars of the past decade by position group. We'll run through the quarterbacks to the wide receivers to the defensive tackles to the safeties, reflecting on who the best of the last nine years have been, and if anyone currently on the roster could jump them.

We'll take three criteria in for these rankings: individual success, team success, and the good ole eyeball test. We're only considering starting players for each of these stories. Today, we get underway with the quarterback position. Since 2010, four quarterbacks have made 10 starts or more: Darron Thomas (2010-11), Marcus Mariota (2012-14), Vernon Adams (2015) and Justin Herbert (2016-present).

Individual Success

1. Marcus Mariota, 2. Darron Thomas, 3. Vernon Adams, 4. Justin Herbert

Mariota at the top is self-explanatory. Expect to see him at the top a lot in this article. And if you're surprised about that, then I don't know what to tell you. Mariota is arguably the best athlete in school history. It'd be hard to argue any other Oregon football player from any other decade above him.

Ranking 2-4 was more difficult. That'll be a trend in this article. My baseline for this was two-fold: all-conference recognition along with individual stats. Thomas was a second-team All-Pac-10 pick in 2010, Adams was honorable mention in 2015 and Herbert, surprisingly, has yet to earn any all-conference recognition. I actually think Adams has superior stats. We should first acknowledge that he played just 10 games at Oregon compared to 29 for Herbert and 31 for Thomas, so the sample size is skewed some. Still, Adams' one season featured a superior QB Rating (179.1) to any seasons the others produced, and his touchdown-interception ratio (26-to-6 / 4.33) is better than any Herbert year and right on track with Thomas' numbers in 2011 (33-to-7 / 4.71). In a tight race, I give Thomas the nod with Adams close on his heels at three and Herbert a step back at fourth.

Team Success

1. Darron Thomas / Marcus Mariota, 3. Justin Herbert, 4. Vernon Adams

Not going to lie, I forgot just how good Oregon was under Thomas. He started 27 games, and Oregon lost just three of them. He led the program to its first-ever perfect regular season (12-0 in 2010), its first-ever national title game appearance and its first Rose Bowl win in nearly 100 years. I have him tied with Mariota for team success, and frankly, you could convince me Thomas has the leg up. Mariota went 36-5 as a starter (87.8-percent) compared to Thomas' 24-3 record (88.9-percent), along with a 3-1 bowl record with a Rose Bowl victory of his own and a national title appearance as well. To me, they're neck-and-neck.

I'm giving Herbert the leg up over Adams almost solely due to his Redbox Bowl victory. Adams did not lead Oregon to a bowl win in 2015. As many remember, the loss was no fault of his own. I'll leave it at that. Adams does a have a better record (7-3 to 17-12 for Herbert), but it's hard to take Herbert's true freshman season seriously given his youth and the situatoin he inherited. If you remove that season, he's 15-6 as a starter, which is slightly better than Adams' one season.

Eyeball Test

1. Marcus Mariota, 2. Justin Herbert, 3. Vernon Adams, 4. Darron Thomas

You might be able to convince me Herbert is a better pro prospect. I don't think that's an easy sell, however. That's despite the fact that Herbert is the bigger and stronger player and probably has the best arm of the bunch. Mariota has intangibles that are completely absent from Herbert's game. His ability to improvise when the pocket broke down and still deliver a dime across his body, are frankly skills I've yet to see from Herbert. And the speed and athleticism comparison is a no-contest.

Adams is getting knocked here because of his size. The other three are all 6-foot-3 or greater, while Adams is sub-6-foot. I do have him above Thomas because Adams arm talent was undeniable. If you told me the game was on the line and you needed one of the four to throw a 60-yard hail mary, I think I'd take Adams. Go back and watch some of the things he did in 2015, and be prepared to be amazed. Thomas brings up the rear, and maybe that's not fair. I just don't believe he was recognizably better than the other three in one area. If we were talking Madden player rankings, I'd say the others each have a few skills that would rank in the 90s, while Thomas is basically a mid-80 guy across the board. Apologies if that comparison falls flat.

Final Ranking

1. Marcus Mariota (11.5), 2. Darron Thomas (7.5), Justin Herbert (6), Vernon Adams (5)

The numbers in parenthesis are the combined score from each criterion (with each top place ranking earning four points, each second three points, etc.). While this is far from scientific and is largely subjective, I think it's pretty representative of each player's collegiate career. Last month I wrote that Herbert was the second-best quarterback this decade. After going through this exercise, I'm officially changing my stance. I think Thomas had a better career to date. But, Herbert could conceivably pass him with a strong senior season. Maybe I'm being bullish making this stance, but I fully expect he will.