Reviewing Oregon's 2016 season and looking ahead to spring drills.

DEPTH CHART

QB: Justin Herbert , Fr.; Dakota Prukop , Gr.; Terry Wilson Jr. , Fr.; Jeff Lockie , Sr.; Travis Jonsen , RFr.; Taylor Alie , Jr.

Starter: The Ducks opened the fall of 2016 with six quarterbacks on the roster, and five of them had been on hand for spring drills in April. The exception was true freshman Justin Herbert , a Eugene native from local powerhouse Sheldon High. And despite his relative lack of experience, it was Herbert who rose up to challenge projected starter Dakota Prukop during preseason camp, and Herbert who took over as Oregon's starter over the final seven games.

Herbert, a tall, strong-armed athlete with preternatural maturity, endured an up-and-down debut season. His first career start was a one-sided loss to Washington, and his next outing ended with an interception in double overtime at California. But Herbert also tied the UO single-game record with six touchdowns that night against the Golden Bears, and eight days later he tied another single-game record, with 489 passing yards in his first career win as a starter, over Arizona State. November told a similar story – disheartening losses to USC, Stanford and Oregon State, but also a game-winning touchdown drive that ended with Herbert's TD pass to Darren Carrington II for the upset at No. 11 Utah.

Reserves: Prukop began the season as the starter, and actually finished with a slightly better passer rating than Herbert, 152.71 to 148.75. In wins at home over UC Davis and Virginia to open the season, Prukop was a combined 42-of-61 for 602 yards and six touchdowns, with no interceptions. But he missed a couple throws at Nebraska that could have resulted in big plays, then threw an interception on a potential game-winning TD pass against Colorado. After a loss at Washington State a week later, coaches made the move to Herbert.

Had the Ducks needed to go to a third quarterback in games, it might have been senior Jeff Lockie . A part-time starter in 2015, Lockie was the ultimate team player in 2016, practicing primarily as the top scout-team quarterback. He shared that job with Travis Jonsen , whose participation was intermittent over the course of the season due to some shoulder problems. Taylor Alie also was available at the position, the Oregon's depth at QB – and lack of at other spots – freed up Alie to practice as a receiver and running back at times, too.

Redshirts: After arriving in time for spring drills, Terry Wilson Jr. was in the mix to battle for the starting job as August dawned, before Herbert's emergence. Wilson ended up spending the season as the No. 3 quarterback in practice, watching and working out with the travel squad. But coaches held him out of games, preserving his redshirt status.

SPRING PROJECTION

QB: Justin Herbert , Fr.; Terry Wilson Jr. , Fr.; Travis Jonsen , RFr.; Taylor Alie , Jr.