OK, You Three . . . You’re Up Next : Chargers: The search for Fouts’ successor continues with Tolliver, Vlasic and Friesz.

SAN DIEGO â€”  Up steps Austin Tolliver with a puzzled look on his face.

“Dad,” he says, staring with wide eyes at Billy Joe, the man who will start at quarterback for the Chargers this season. “Where did Dave Archer go?”

Tough question.

“Dave Archer’s gone, buddy,” Billy Joe explains. “He’s home.”

And there, at the tender age of 2, Austin Tolliver received a brief lesson in what this business of quarterbacking in the NFL is all about. One day, Austin was playing with one of his dad’s colleagues after practice. The next, David Archer was nowhere to be found, a victim of an early roster trim.

Charger quarterbacks have come and gone quite frequently since Dan Fouts moved up to the broadcast booth following the 1987 season. For more than a decade, Fouts was the Chargers’ solution to the leakiest defense in the NFL. These days, the defense is just fine, but nobody is too sure about the quarterbacks. Tolliver, Mark Vlasic and rookie John Friesz are all fodder for the skeptics.

The big responsibility this season has been dumped into the lap of Tolliver, who started five games last year as an enthusiastic but unpolished rookie. He did everything a talented first-year player is supposed to do. He threw interceptions, made bad decisions and occasionally showed hints of his ability.

Charger Coach Dan Henning says Tolliver has made good progress since last season, but it hasn’t yet been evident on the field. In Saturday’s scrimmage against the Phoenix Cardinals, Tolliver threw two interceptions. Usually friendly and open to questions, Tolliver was terse with reporters afterward, answering with a lot of yesses and nos.

The pressure is there. Billy Joe Tolliver knows it.

“There is some pressure, because they’re trying to hang their hat on me, and I’m trying to show them that I’m worthy of that honor,” he says. “You know, I’d like to think I showed them a couple of flashes last year of what I could do, and that’s part of the reason they’re going this route.”

Tolliver is very aware of his limitations and isn’t getting too full of himself. Sure, more people are asking for his autograph these days, and there are more interview requests. People even recognize him on the street.

“Yeah,” Tolliver says. “But it’s not John Elway. I’ve gone a few places with John in the off-season, and it’s just incredible. The guy can’t have a peaceful minute.”

For someone with confidence in his abilities as a football player, Tolliver isn’t much for selling himself as a worldly, interesting guy. He figures he’ll let Burt Grossman say the funny stuff and just stick to improving his knowledge of the Charger playbook.

“As far as the publicity goes, I really don’t attract that much,” he says. “Not that many people want to talk to me because generally I don’t have anything smart to say. I don’t have any wisecracks. In general, I’m not a very smart guy. The only thing I know is Xs and Os and that stuff gets boring.”

How about some more self-evaluation, Billy?

“I’m not a very gifted athlete,” he says. “I’m not very good at anything, really.”

Let’s get this straight. He says he’s not a gifted athlete and not very smart. He isn’t exactly nimble on his feet, and he has practically no experience.

So what the heck is Billy Joe Tolliver doing starting at quarterback in the NFL?

“He’s got a feel for the game and a strong arm,” Henning says. “He’s ready to make the big plays.”

Perhaps more important than the strength of his arm is the strength of his heart. Watch practice, and you’ll find Tolliver takes each snap as seriously as if he’s playing for a playoff berth. Wednesday morning, the Chargers were working on the two-minute offense. Tolliver drove the team inside the 20 but was a split second late getting the last snap off before the whistle blew. Disgusted, he turned and punted the ball over his shoulder.

Tolliver wants to be good, and he wants to do it in a hurry.

“At this stage in his life that’s normal,” Henning says. “He’s 24 years old. Everybody wants to be where they want to be as quickly as they can get there.”

And while there are brief moments of frustration, Tolliver is handling himself with a poise that is encouraging to Henning. Tolliver doesn’t waste a lot of time dwelling on his mistakes.

“He’s a guy that’s difficult to get down,” Henning says. “He may get down for a few minutes, but he’s quick to bounce back. He doesn’t let things carry on and cause him other problems.”

As for the rest of the stuff starting quarterbacks need to do, that is still coming a little bit at a time.

“He understands that even though he’s been given this opportunity, he’s a long way from what it takes to be a winning quarterback,” says Ted Tollner, the Chargers’ quarterback coach. “Yet he has the tools to get there, and we believe the mentality and emotional stability. We’ve got to work ourselves through the rough spots so he can get there.”

While that happens, Vlasic and Friesz will do their best to make sure they aren’t forgotten. Vlasic, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, is in his fourth season with the Chargers and was impressive enough in the first two weeks of training camp to push Archer off the roster.

Last season was a long one for Vlasic, who suffered his injury in November, 1988, in a game against the Rams and never fully recovered.

So, while the other quarterbacks were taking snaps in training camp last summer, Vlasic spent his time doing rehabilitation exercises and a few warmup drills on the sideline. And then when he was healthy enough to take the field, he was assigned to run the opponent’s offense against the Chargers’ defense.

Things have changed. Having made steady progress throughout camp, Vlasic is feeling good again about his chances to eventually become a starter.

“It’s kind of exciting,” he says. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been in there.”

The thing is, the Chargers don’t have plans to make him the starter. Henning has stated clearly that Tolliver will fill that role when the regular season begins unless there is a “drastic” set of events.

But that doesn’t alter Vlasic’s goal.

“I don’t think anybody that’s out here is looking for any other position than the starting job,” he says. “As soon as you’re satisfied with being behind somebody, you’re not working for the team any more. The entire team gets better by each competition at each position.”

Friesz, a sixth-round draft selection, is last in the pecking order but has had a solid camp. That isn’t to say he didn’t go through a few hectic moments in mini-camp and the first two weeks of training camp.

“The knowledge part of it was overwhelming at first,” he said. “But I have a pretty good grip on it now.”

His biggest adjustment has been contending with the defensive backs, who are a good deal more deceptive than the ones he faced at the University of Idaho, where he set 24 school, 18 conference and five NCAA Division I-AA records to put him fifth on the all-time career passing list with 10,697 yards.

“They can cheat,” he says. “They’ll bait you into doing something, but with their athletic ability they can get back in time to make the play.”

Clearly, all three quarterbacks are still feeling their way around like a few guys who have showed up late to a movie. The hope at Charger camp is that they will find their direction in time for the Sept. 9 regular-season opener at Dallas.

Charger Notes

Charger General Manager Bobby Beathard said there were no new negotiations on the contracts of first-round draft selection Junior Seau and outside linebacker Leslie O’Neal. . . . Three tight ends suffered minor injuries in Wednesday’s practices. Arthur Cox strained his back, Derrick Walker injured his shoulder, and Craig McEwen experienced some numbness in his hand after it was stepped on. Charger Coach Dan Henning did not know the extent of Cox and Walker’s injuries. . . . The Chargers worked on a drill in their afternoon practice requiring players to adjust to field position changes. Afterward, Henning commented: “It appeared in this little drill that we either have a great defense or a (bad) offense. I would imagine it’s somewhere in between.” . . . Inside linebacker Gary Plummer and Frank Cornish, a rookie center/guard from UCLA, got into a scuffle midway through the afternoon practice and had to be separated twice. Said Cornish: “It wasn’t anything serious. It happens in practice. You play a hostile sport, sometimes you get hostile.” . . . The Dallas Cowboys will arrive in town Friday night for Saturday’s exhibition at 7 p.m. in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. They will stay through the following Thursday and are scheduled to practice with the Chargers Monday and Tuesday at UCSD.