GEORGIA: A pair of shoulder injuries have the No. 11 Bulldogs scrambling at tight end.
Starter Tripp Chandler was hurt in the Alabama game, while back-up Bruce Figgins is hoping to get in one more game before season-ending surgery.
With an off week, Chandler and Figgins have extra time to get ready for the Oct. 11 game against Tennessee.
Figgins could play one more game and still qualify for a medical redshirt.
"He's trying to get ready to play against Tennessee, and we're not counting him out," coach Mark Richt said. "It's pretty honorable for him to want to do that. It's strictly his decision to make. I talked to him … about it just face-to-face, and right now his goal is to try to play in the game."
Kiante Tripp, who started the first three games of the season at tackle, moved to tight end last week and has made progress. The 290-pound Tripp played sparingly in a 41-30 loss to Alabama but was at his new position on Knowshon Moreno's third-quarter touchdown run.
"It's amazing how well the big man does move. The one thing that he has above all else is athleticism. He's actually running some decent routes, and he's snatched the ball pretty good," Richt said.
"Let's not get carried away with how many balls might get thrown to him. We're not building an offensive passing game around him. Right now, we're not certain enough at the tackle position to cut him loose to tight end. We've just kind of play it out here a little bit. I do know he will add value to our team by knowing how to play both."
The Bulldogs (4-1, 1-1) are practicing twice this week, then will resume a normal workload on Monday.
KENTUCKY: Freshman receiver Aaron Boyd was expected to make an immediate impact this season.
Not so fast.
Before the opening game against Louisville, the highly rated recruit was diagnosed with mononucleosis and missed considerable practice time. Healthy again for the second game against Norfolk State, Boyd has still struggled to make the starting lineup, largely because of his work ethic, coach Rich Brooks said.
"I'm going to keep my patience," Brooks said. "You have to practice well and you have to perform well and you have to know what you're doing and you have to do it full speed in this league or you won't play as much."
Kentucky (4-0) lost three starting receivers after last season, and it was hoped that Boyd could help pick up the slack with returnee Dicky Lyons Jr.
But the freshman has lacked focus and initiative, according to his coach.
"When he starts getting that, he'll play more," Brooks said.
Boyd did catch all three passes thrown to him is the Wildcats' win against Western Kentucky, which Brooks called encouraging.
"But he's got a lot of work to do and he has to understand the level of intensity it takes to play in this league," Brooks said.
SOUTH CAROLINA: It's rarely easy for Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier.
He's spent much of this season searching for a consistent way for the Gamecocks to score some points. He's tried three quarterbacks, four running backs and numerous wide receivers, all with limited success.
Five games in, South Carolina (3-2, 0-2) ranks eighth in the Southeastern Conference with about 21 points a game - a very un-Spurrier-like output.
Spurrier's watched some particularly dreary play in the red zone, where South Carolina had converted just 10 of their 19 trips inside their opponent's 20-yard line into touchdowns. That's tied for 10th in the 12-team SEC.
Three times, the Gamecocks have come away without any points at all close in. Those have included Mike Davis' fumble into the end zone attempting to dive over a pile to score a tying TD against Georgia three weeks ago.
Then there last week when UAB, statistically among the country's worst Bowl Subdivision defenses, stuffed Gamecock quarterback Stephen Garcia on fourth-and-goal from the 1.
Garcia changed the play at the line, and Spurrier frantically attempted to call time out as he sensed things would go wrong.
"When I saw Stephen up there starting to check off, I knew something bad was going to happen," Spurrier said.
Spurrier said left tackle Jarriel King didn't pick up Garcia's audible "and we had a dead play on fourth and inches at the goal line. That was pretty stupid. But that's how it happened."
TENNESSEE: The dislocated shoulder Tennessee's Ellix Wilson suffered against Auburn doesn't seem to worry the middle linebacker.
"They just popped it right back in," Wilson said. "It happened all the time in high school so it wasn't a big deal."
Wilson has been limited in practice so far this week as Tennessee (1-3) prepares for Northern Illinois (2-2), but both he and coaches expect him to play.
If for some reason the senior who is ranked third in the Southeastern Conference in average number of tackles per game with 8.8 can't make it, Nick Reveiz is ready to fill in, defensive coordinator John Chavis said.
Reveiz has been Wilson's backup all season but hasn't taken many snaps on the field.
"We've kind of rode Ellix as far as we can go, but I feel comfortable with Nick being in the game," Chavis said.
For additional depth, Chavis has moved sophomore outside linebacker LaMarcus Thompson to the inside and said he would move weakside linebacker Rico McCoy inside if needed. Reserves Savion frazier and Herman Lathers could fill in for McCoy on the outside.
"I fully expect Ellix to play this week," Chavis said. "I think he'll be fine to go, but we're going to have some answers in case he can't."
VANDERBILT: The return of senior receiver George Smith from a stress fracture may be the best thing for No. 19 Vanderbilt's passing game. The Commodores have not had a game through their 4-0 start where they passed for more than 91 yards, and that was in the opening win at Miami (Ohio).
None of the Commodores have caught more than four passes in a game, and Smith finished up last season with his best game yet with seven receptions for 94 yards against Wake Forest.
Coach Bobby Johnson doesn't know how effective Smith can be after missing so much time. But he said Smith has been practicing well.
"Well I think having George's personality and leadership and what he has brought to the program, will be a big boost for him. George is a real good player. He's tall and he can run and catch so that puts a little pressure on anybody's team. Hopefully, we'll get him out there and he can get back into the swing of things and make some plays for our football team," Johnson said.
The Commodores (4-0, 2-0) will try to win their third straight SEC game for the first time since 1982 on Saturday when No. 13 Auburn (4-1, 2-1) visits.
