Billy Joe Tolliver - High School and College

High School and College

Tolliver played high school football at Boyd High School. During his senior season, he led the Boyd Yellow Jackets to a 15-0-1 record and the 2-A state championship. He amassed more than 1,000 rushing and passing yards, and was named Player of the Year by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Tolliver also used his athleticism elsewhere as a three-sport athlete, averaging 15 points and 17 rebounds in basketball and throwing 14 no-hitters in baseball.

After graduating from high school, Tolliver played college football at Texas Tech University and was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. His hard throwing style led Texas Tech coach David McWilliams to say, "He throws the ball harder, and with more velocity, than anyone I've ever seen." He redshirted his freshman season in 1984, then became the starting quarterback in 1985. On November 9, 1985, Tolliver had his first breakout performance at Texas Tech as he threw for a record-setting 422 yards and five touchdowns in a 63–7 win over Texas Christian University (TCU), a performance that helped him become a household name in Texas. As he began his sophomore season, he was considered the lone bright spot on Texas Tech's offense. Tolliver struggled at the start of the year. By the end of September, he had only completed 54 of 123 passes, and after throwing five interceptions against Baylor, he shrugged off the bad game, saying, "even Betty Crocker burns a cake every now and then." His fortunes continued to sink when in a game in late October against the Rice Owls, he was benched and backup quarterback Monte McGuire rallied the team to a victory. However, Tolliver rebounded and brought his team to the 1986 Independence Bowl as Texas Tech won six games for the first time since 1978. He finished the season with 1,802 passing yards and seven touchdowns.

During Tolliver's junior year, he looked to fix his erratic passing, which he had concentrated on improving over the previous months. However, shortly before the season opener against Florida State, he suffered a hairline fracture in his foot, leaving him doubtful for the match. He missed the first three games of the season, then returned in Texas Tech's fourth game against Baylor and completed 14 of 25 passes for 189 yards, a touchdown and an interception in a 36–22 loss. Tolliver's next big performance came against TCU, the same team he defeated 63–7 as a freshman. He threw a touchdown pass to Wayne Walker in the last minute to beat TCU, 36–35. He finished the season having passed for 1,422 yards and seven touchdowns in eight games. The next season, his senior year, Tolliver and Texas Tech were looking to win the Southwest Conference. He started the season strong, throwing an 85-yard pass against Arizona—it was the third-longest pass in school history—but the Red Raiders started with two losses. By the end of the season, Tolliver had set 16 school records, and was awarded the Southwest Conference Sportsmanship Award by the league's officials. After four seasons with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, he set the school record for career passing yards with 6,756, career pass attempts with 1,008, career pass completions with 493, career touchdown passes with 38, season passing yards with 2,869 in 1988, and single game passing yards with 446 against Oklahoma State University in 1988, among others. Tolliver was inducted into Texas Tech's Hall of Honor in 2002.