Gerald Riggs Jr., came limping through the Tennessee football complex on crutches Tuesday.

No one wanted to stop and ask him questions during UT's weekly media day session.

They let him be. They let him think about what might have been.

The player Tennessee running backs coach Trooper Taylor dubbed "Seabiscuit" because of his darkhorse Heisman potential, was upstaged by another Heisman wannabe.

DeAngelo Williams was nowhere to be found around Knoxville on Tuesday.

His races usually are run about six hours west of here -- in Memphis.

"He's the No. 1 rusher in the country," defensive back Jonathan Wade said as UT (3-5) prepares for Saturday's 2 p.m. homecoming game against the Tigers (4-4). "That's a humongous challenge.

"We have to find a way to contain him."

Stop him, doubtful. Contain him, maybe.

Check out www.racefortheheisman.com if you don't believe the hype.

By the Web site name alone, you'd think it would be full of glossy pictures of Southern Cal quarterback Matt Leinart, Southern Cal running back Reggie Bush, Texas quarterback Vince Young, or maybe even Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn.

Wrong.

It's all about the 5-foot-10, 217-pound back from Memphis.

The University of Memphis sports information folks even sent out miniature NASCAR replicas decked out in the No. 20 to Heisman voters.

"Acceleration off the line, speed in the turns and an extra gear in the straightaways" is how the campaign describes Williams.

The numbers back up the description.

Through eight games, Williams leads NCAA Division I backs with 184.5 yards per game. He has 1,476 yards and 12 touchdowns on 216 carries.

He also hasn't seen a defense in the same area code as the one he's about to face this weekend.

No. 20, meet turn 4 at the Brickyard -- otherwise known as Parys Haralson, Jesse Mahelona, Justin Harrell and Jason Hall -- Tennessee's defensive line.

In Williams' only other game against an SEC defense this season, he had his worst outing of the year, an 85-yard effort in a 10-6 season-opening loss to Ole Miss.

Since then, he has had four 200-yard games against Chattanooga, Tulsa, UTEP and East Carolina.

He gets free, shakes and bakes and turns on his speed despite entire defenses geared to stop him.

But the Vols might have a little more to offer than those other foursomes, none ranked higher than 74th in rushing defense.

Tennessee is No. 4 in the country in rushing defense (80.9 yards per game), Memphis is the fourth-ranked rushing offense (274.7).

"Memphis is a team that centers around, obviously, a really great running back," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "You don't lead the country in rushing by accident.

"He's a fast kid, elusive guy, strong young man. They ask him to do a lot of things and he does a lot of things very well."

Everyone in Neyland Stadium on Saturday will know what's coming.

Memphis is going to try every trick in the book to get Williams some space to run.

Tennessee is going to try and throw up the same wall that eight other teams have crashed and burned into with their running games.

No running back this season has had a 100-yard game against the Vols. Georgia's Thomas Brown came the closest with 94 yards on 20 carries.

It's a point of pride for UT's defense, but not the point of emphasis.

"The first thing we want to do and take a lot of pride in is to win," UT defensive coordinator John Chavis said.

"I don't care about stats. I don't care about anything until you get the win."

Snapping a four-game losing streak, the Vols' longest since 1988 when they started the season 0-6, is the goal.

To reach the goal, you have to stop Williams.

"They've got something going on allowing him to get 184 yards a game," Wade said. "That's what we've got to put an end to, at least this weekend."