Click Here to watch Toliver discuss Saturday’s game
 
LSU senior wide receiver Terrence Toliver has been dreaming of this moment since high school.
 
Toliver, a five-star high-school recruit out of Hempstead, Texas, was torn between signing with Florida or LSU in 2007 when he saw another Tiger commitment play — Jarrett Lee.
 
Though the two never squared off on the field in prep ball, they befriended each other during a recruiting trip to Baton Rouge and wanted to stick together.
 
“I just saw him in high school, the way he threw the ball, and I wanted a quarterback like that,” Toliver said.
 
Four years after their recruiting trip, the two connected again.
 
This time they etched their names in Tiger football lore when they hooked up Saturday on a 3-yard touchdown as time dwindled down to give LSU a 33-29 victory against Florida.
 
Toliver worked his way past Florida sophomore cornerback Jeremy Brown in the corner of the end zone on a fade route and lassoed Lee’s pass while tip-toeing inside the white lines to stay in bounds.
 
“I just felt like I didn’t want to be denied,” Toliver said.
 
LSU wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator Billy Gonzales had been telling Toliver all week to expect man-to-man coverage and even showed him extra videos of wide receivers beating the coverage.
 
“I took much pride in my preparation last week,” Toliver said. “I beat man-to-man coverage, and it worked out for the best.”
 
The Tigers appear to have found a go-to receiver in Toliver, who in the past two weeks has hauled in five fourth-quarter receptions for 84 yards and a touchdown.
 
Toliver’s recent clutch receptions have also caught Lee’s attention.
 
“Terrence is a big playmaker for us, and the confidence level between me and him is there — it’s always been there,” Lee said. “He’s a playmaker, and he’s going to make plays, so it’s just about us getting the ball in our playmakers’ hands.”
 
LSU was determined to get the ball to its playmaker as Toliver had his number called on the play before the touchdown when the pass fell incomplete.
 
The same situation occurred last season at Ole Miss when the Tigers threw to Toliver on consecutive plays. The first fell incomplete, and the second drew a pass interference call.
 
But the memory of a lost opportunity struck a chord with Toliver.
 
“I didn’t make that play [at Ole Miss], and I felt real bad about that,” Toliver said. “During the Ole Miss game, they threw it to me twice, and I got the interference call there. But the second one was the same kind of throw to the outside, and I didn’t make that play. I had it on my mind that I was going to make the play this time.”
 
Toliver finished Saturday’s game in the Swamp with six receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns.
 
The two scores tied a career high in a game for Toliver, and the 111 yards fell just 8 yards short of the career-high 119 he set in 2007 against Louisiana Tech.
 
LSU coach Les Miles said he likes to use all of his weapons on offense, but Toliver is a guy on whom he knows he can rely.
 
“Don’t get me wrong; I think we can go to [sophomore wide receiver] Rueben Randle, and [sophomore wide receiver] Russell Shepard doesn’t in any way scare us,” Miles said. “We just felt like Terrence had a hot hand, and we liked the matchup there. Frankly, if we had another shot, we would have taken it to him as well.”
 
Frankly, Toliver relishes the fact that his number gets called when the game is on the line.
 
“You have to have a beastly type mentality,” Toliver said. “You are out there like no one can stop you. That’s how you have to be when you are going to get the ball the majority of the time, and that’s how I felt on Saturday.”
 
 
 
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Contact Rob Landry at [email protected]