When toe meets leather at 8:00 p.m. ET on Monday in the Capital One Orange Bowl, the Florida Gators will be playing their final football game of the decade.

The program reached historic heights under former head coach Urban Meyer in the mid-2000s, winning two BCS National Championships in a three-year span from 2006-08. The 2010s have not quite been as fruitful, but Gator fans have not been completely devoid of bright spots, either.

As our Tyler Nettuno pointed out, Florida’s quarterback play has been less than stellar since the graduation of Tim Tebow. Unfortunately, these struggles have extended to the running game as well.

From 2010-19, the Gators never ranked higher than 27th among FBS programs in rush yards per game. Three times in this span (2015-16, 2019), the program has finished outside the top-100 nationally in rushing.

While these numbers are a far cry from years past, Florida has continued to field plenty of explosive playmakers in their backfield. This list will break down the Gators’ top-five tailbacks of the last decade.

Before we get into the rankings, here are two honorable mentions.

Mike Gillislee (2009-12)

A Deland native, Gillislee was a four-star prospect in the 2009 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Buried on the depth chart for his first three years on-campus, he topped out at 328 yards as a junior in 2011.

As a senior, Gillislee rewrote the narrative. Serving as the lead back for the first time in his Florida career, he ran for 1,152 yards in 2012, en route to a first-team All-SEC selection. This total was the highest mark by a Gator in a single-season in the decade.

Overall, Gillislee recorded 2,072 yards on 389 carries (5.3 AVG) and 20 touchdowns.

Matt Jones (2012-14)

Appearing in 12 of the team’s 13 games as a freshman in 2012, Jones ran for 275 yards and three scores while averaging 5.3 yards per carry. He eclipsed his yardage total in just five games as a sophomore, but saw his campaign cut short by a meniscus tear.

Showing he was back at full strength, Jones returned to lead Florida in rushing in 2014 with 817 yards. He elected to declare for the National Football League Draft, forgoing his final year of eligibility and was selected by the Washington Redskins in the third round with the 95th overall pick.

Considering the Gators ranked No. 113 in America in 2015 at just 128 yards per game rushing, one could only wonder what would have been if Jones returned for his senior season.

NEXT: No. 5 Jordan Scarlett (2015-16, 2018)

Jordan Scarlett • Lamical Perine • Chris Rainey • Kelvin Taylor • Jeff Demps