Brooks Michael Bollinger (born November 15, 1979) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions. He also was a member of the Florida Tuskers in the United Football League (UFL). He played college football at the University of Wisconsin.
Early years
Bollinger attended Grand Forks Central High School. He started in every game at quarterback during his four-year career, passing for 40 touchdowns and rushing for 19 more. He led the team to the state championship game as a junior in 1996. He was a two-time All-state quarterback and the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Dakota as a senior in 1997.
He was a three-year starter at point guard in basketball and contributed to the 1996 Class A state championship as a junior. He received All-state honors as a senior. He was a notable infielder on the Grand Forks Royals American Legion baseball team, before the school fielded a varsity team. He was the starter at shortstop in 1996 and 1997. He was drafted twice in 2000 and 2001 by the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, both times in the 50th round.
College career
Bollinger accepted a football scholarship from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he was a four-year starting quarterback. In 2000, Bollinger, a redshirt freshman starter, assisted the Badgers in their second straight Rose Bowl victory along with teammate and Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne.
The following year, Bollinger played in the Sun Bowl and defeated the UCLA Bruins. In one of the University of Wisconsin school papers, The Badger Herald, a full front-page article praised the quarterback as a "Triple Threat." The accompanying three pictures of Bollinger showed him scrambling, handing off, and scrambling once again. During his third year, the Badgers could not match the success of the two previous seasons as they posted a 5–7 overall record and did not earn a bowl game berth.
Bollinger ended his collegiate career with an overtime victory over the Colorado Buffaloes in the Alamo Bowl. Bollinger finished with a 30–12 record as a starter at UW, a 3–0 bowl game record, and the school's rushing record for quarterbacks with 1,767 yards (twelfth overall in school history) and 26 touchdowns.
He was a four-year starter and set the school record with 1,289 plays over the course of his career. He finished third in the school's All-time list with 771 career pass attempts, 5,627 career passing yards, 414 completions, 38 passing touchdown passes and 64 total touchdowns. He finished second in school history with 7,394 combined passing and rushing yards.
In 2017, he was inducted into the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame.
Professional career
New York Jets
Bollinger was selected by the New York Jets in the sixth round (200th overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft. Bollinger spent the entire year on the bench while Vinny Testaverde and Chad Pennington led the team as quarterbacks.
In 2004, his idle NFL career ended, when he replaced an injured Quincy Carter to take his first snap in an NFL game against Arizona. Bollinger completed 5 of 9 passes for 60 yards.
Bollinger did not play again until 2005, when first and second-string quarterbacks Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler were both injured in a game against Jacksonville. These unfortunate series of events kickstarted Bollinger's career as the quarterback for the Jets. After the incident, Jets head coach Herman Edwards tried to bring experience at the quarterback position to the team by signing veteran quarterback Vinny Testaverde. The 41-year-old Testaverde failed to perform up to expectations and was benched for Bollinger. He finished with 9 starts, passing for 1,558 yards, 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.
Minnesota Vikings
Bollinger was traded to the Minnesota Vikings in 2006 for defensive tackle C. J. Mosley and a draft pick where he was reunited with new head coach Brad Childress, his offensive coordinator in college. After a game against the Chicago Bears in which Vikings starting quarterback Brad Johnson threw 4 interceptions, Bollinger came in and replaced him. He threw for 70 yards (with seven completions on nine attempts), before he was injured and replaced by rookie Tarvaris Jackson. The injury kept him sidelined through most of his 2006 season.