Chris Brown is headed home to Louisiana and he's wearing enemy colors.

Brown will be Tennessee's starting tight end Saturday night against LSU in Baton Rouge, La.

His telephone was ringing off the hook with people calling for tickets.

"I think I'm up to 36 (tickets), something like that, and people were calling me (Monday) night and still asking me for tickets," Brown said Tuesday. "I'm going to try my best to get everybody, but there are some people I haven't talked to in a long time asking me for tickets."

Brown, a sophomore, is from Destrehan, a small town just west of New Orleans. He grew up an LSU fan and was rooting for the Tigers when they beat Tennessee in the 2001 SEC Championship Game.

"I didn't know any better back then," he said, smiling. "It was just high school. I was going for my home state. When LSU came back and won the game (against Tennessee), it was amazing what they did."

Brown says LSU recruited him early, but withdrew its offer late in the process. He said even if it hadn't withdrawn the scholarship offer, he would have gone to another state to play football.

He looks forward to his homecoming Saturday.

"I'm definitely excited about going back and playing at Tiger Stadium," he said. "They recruited me but I guess I wasn't one of their main prospects, but that's fine. Just going back home to play in front of all the people, most of the people from my high school went to LSU, so I know a lot of people there who are going to LSU and coming back to watch the game."

One who will be doing more than watching is LaRon Landry, starting free safety for LSU.

Landry grew up with Brown, and the two faced off against each other in football, basketball and baseball, starting as young children and on through their high school years.

Brown hasn't recently talked with Landry, but has talked with a mutual acquaintance.

"I'm sure me and (Landry) will be going at it pretty much," Brown said.

Brown was concerned early in the week that Hurricane Rita would cause even more problems for his home state, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

All of his family members escaped Katrina unharmed and without much property damage, but some of his high school classmates who had moved to New Orleans with their families lost their homes.

Brown will do his best to help the Vols beat LSU, but Katrina has helped him keep Saturday's game in perspective.

"I'm always going to be from Louisiana," he said. "That's always going to be my stomping grounds. I'm always going to go back there. That's where I'm from.

"The people down there, just stay up and pray because everything will be OK."