Chargers to Use Tolliver, Friesz as 1-2 Punch : Quarterbacks: Early training-camp returns solidify Tolliver as starter, put Gagliano out of picture as backup.

Depth chart update: Billy Joe Tolliver is the Chargers’ No. 1 quarterback and from now on will receive 50% of all offensive practice plays.

John Friesz has fallen prey to the mistakes of inexperience that have bedeviled Tolliver in the past, but he has won the job as Tolliver’s backup.

Bob Gagliano, sit down.

The official announcement won’t come until after the quarterbacks have been advised of their status in the next day or two, but after three days of contact work with the Phoenix Cardinals, the Chargers’ brass has made its decision.

Tolliver separated himself from the pack with two impressive days of practice and a satisfactory scrimmage appearance in the Chargers’ 26-17 victory over the Cardinals.

“Billy’s practiced up here with a sense of purpose and a display of experience,” Coach Dan Henning said. “I think John Friesz has a good future in this league, and Bob Gagliano is a guy capable of getting in there once he learns a little more what we’re doing.

“But there’s no time and place in my mind that you can train three guys at this time of year. We have to cut down to training two. And as far as practicing against another team and seeing things that are different, Billy handled that better than either one of them here.”

The Chargers refused to identify Tolliver as their starting quarterback when training camp opened. However, his play recently has convinced the team that there is no other way to go at this time.

“I’ve really liked these last three days,” said Ted Tollner, quarterbacks coach. “He’s had good control of his mechanics, good decision-making and good focus. It’s not that ‘everything is fine and dandy’ thing anymore.

“It’s a serious approach to the game. And that’s what it’s going to take for him to develop. I like that, and I like where he is right now.”

The rise by Tolliver has been as swift as Gagliano’s decline. In the last week he has fallen behind Friesz in practice. He has shown a tendency to hold the ball too long while looking for a receiver and now won’t be given the practice time to pull the trigger.

“It wouldn’t surprise me to have them pick a No. 1 guy, and that will be Red (Tolliver),” Gagliano said. “After that, maybe it would be a little premature for them to do that (identify a No. 2 and No. 3 quarterback).

“But that’s the coach’s decision. It’s a long year, and hopefully they feel good enough about me that they would be happy to have me here.”

The Chargers were not happy with Gagliano’s practice play on Friday, and on Saturday he worked with the team’s hamburger unit, composed of players who will be making their living elsewhere come September.

Gagliano completed 4 of 7 passes for 35 yards but once again looked befuddled while dropping back to pass. He was sacked twice and drew a head-crunching hit from Phoenix linebacker Willie Don Wright after a long wait to release a misguided pass.

Friesz had similar difficulties against the Cardinals. He tried to force the ball deep to wide receiver Elliott Searcy and the pass was intercepted by Phoenix safety Mike Zordich. He also was a little late and a little off the mark on a timing route to Yancey Thigpen, and the ball was picked off by Phoenix cornerback Dexter Davis.

A third interception was waved off by a pass interference call on the Cardinals.

“I feel like I had a terrible day,” said Friesz, who was 6 for 9 passes for 52 yards, including a pair of short touchdown tosses to H-back Steve Hendrickson. “In the last several months I feel like I’ve been making small steps in progress. Today was my first step back.”

Friesz at age 24, however, is on the rise, while Gagliano awaits his 33rd birthday in September. Neither player has mounted a serious challenge to Tolliver, but Friesz will draw practice time to ready himself for emergency work.

Friesz replaced Tolliver as the Chargers’ starting quarterback in last year’s finale, but he said to start this season, the job belongs to Tolliver.

“People are going to be pleasantly surprised; I think he’s going to have a real good year,” Friesz said. “He’s not forcing the ball, and he doesn’t get so over-anxious. That’s kind of where I’m at right now, and it’s frustrating for a young guy. You come in and you want to turn heads and make big plays.”

That was Tolliver’s self-appointed commission as a rookie. Every play was going to be a big play. Every pass was going to beat the defender to the receiver. Everything was going to be just fine.

But like Friesz, who walked off the Walkup Skydome carpet muttering about his poor performance, that was Tolliver a year ago.

“I stunk it up here last year,” Tolliver said. “. . . But now I’m more confident, and I think it’s showing. I’ve kind of traded in some of those hard-headed ways and have started listening more to what the coaches are saying.”

Tolliver’s performance Saturday did not necessarily inspire comparisons to John Elway or Dan Marino, but Tolliver was in command. The Chargers’ first offensive unit, without its top two receivers, moved smartly down the field.

“You’ve got to take what they give you in this league,” Tolliver said. “In college I had a Wayne Walker out there, who could run a 4.25 40, and he could be covered, but I’d throw it up and he’d go get it. He was a superior athlete; you don’t see that here. The only mismatches you see up here are Ronnie Harmon on a linebacker or a safety or whoever wants to try and cover Ronnie.

“It could be third and eight now and we might have something running across the middle of the field at 12 yards, and I might not take it. Ronnie might be out there three yards deep, and I know he can get that first down on his own.”

Tolliver still has the big arm and still has the inclination to go deep. But he has discovered Harmon, and tight ends Arthur Cox and Derrick Walker.

“It took me three years to make myself learn to throw the football away and avoid the sack,” Tolliver said. “Now I’m working on the check-down (short pass to a running back or tight end). There’s nothing wrong with the check-down; Joe Montana’s made a career out of it. You hit those check-downs enough and that downfield ball will open up more.”

Tolliver’s first pass of Saturday’s scrimmage was a short flip to Walker, who turned it into a 13-yard gain. On his next effort, he looked off Harmon, took a peek at Cox and then found wide receiver Walter Wilson on the sideline for 14 yards.

The Chargers took a 3-0 lead on Tolliver’s first series when placekicker John Carney connected from 39 yards. A 23-yard completion to Cox helped set up a Tom Whelihan 40-yard field goal for a 6-0 advantage.

Tolliver rolled out of trouble on his third series, and for old time’s sake, he overthrew a wide open Rod Bernstine.

He finished his day with a six-yard pass to rookie tight end Duane Young and then turned the team over to Friesz. No interceptions. Five of nine for 64 yards. No deep passes down the field.