TAMPA, Fla. -- Tennessee's football roster resembles many of the others in the SEC.

The Vols have 52 players from their home state, 13 from neighboring Georgia, and six each from Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and Virginia.

One of the few Vols with Pennsylvania connections is linebacker/defensive end Andre Mathis, a first-team Associated Press All-State selection as a senior at Erie Cathedral Prep.

Mathis is the lone Pennsylvania player on the Vols' roster, and as expected, he's excited for today's Outback Bowl against Penn State.

"This game is good for me," he said. "In the recruiting process, I was recruited by Big Ten schools, so it's going to be fun."

Mathis was recruited by Penn State.

He said he received frequent calls from Penn State coaches. The Nittany Lions made Mathis' final list, which also included Tennessee, Ohio State and Florida.

"It came down to tradition and academics," he said. "I really liked Tennessee when I took my visit."

Mathis redshirted last season and he has spent the second half of this season preparing for a move to defensive end in 2007. Mathis spent his high school career at linebacker, where he had 173 tackles his final two seasons.

The 6-foot-2, 245-pound Mathis has appeared in seven games this year and plans on making a push for increased playing time at defensive end next season.

He also will use the off-season to continue his adjustment to a different lifestyle.

"It was tough to adjust," he said. "I'm totally different than the people down south with how I talk and it's pretty hard going from home to down south. I'm starting to get used to it, but at first, it was tough."

Lineup Lowdown: Criticized throughout the season by media, fans and even its head coach, Penn State's offensive line is well aware that it will be closely watched today.

"Seems like all year we've had something to prove," said left tackle Levi Brown, who will play his final college game. "So this wouldn't be any different than any other game."

The challenge for some of the bigger Nittany Lions this week has been adjusting to the warmer climate. Coaches have held practices during the middle of the day to prepare Penn State for today's 11 a.m. kickoff.

Receiving most of the first-team repetitions at right tackle is redshirt junior Chris Auletta, who replaced an injured John Shaw for the season's final two games. Shaw has recovered from his sprained knee and should see action.

"Right now I think it would probably be Chris Auletta that would start this game for us," Brown said Friday. "I'm not sure if they're gonna switch them out or do that rotation-type thing."

Penn State defensive tackle Jay Alford said that senior Steve Roach is the likely candidate to replace the suspended Ed Johnson at the other defensive tackle spot.

Full Attention: He has lined up against Jeff Samardzija, Ted Ginn, Jr., and Steve Breaston this season. Justin King's next challenge might be his toughest yet.

Tennessee junior wideout Robert Meachem has dominated opposing secondaries this season to the tune of 1,265 yards and 11 touchdown catches. King, Penn State's shutdown sophomore cornerback, has had nearly a month to study the 6-3, 210-pounder -- and the rest of the Vols' offense -- on film.

"You try to look for more tendencies, but at the same time you've got to realize that you can't get out of your routine of preparing for a game," King said.

"You don't want to get too much in your mind. You want to still be on a reaction basis. And that's what I'm trying to do."

At this time a year ago, King still was a two-way player, splitting time between cornerback and wide receiver. He played strictly defense this season, earning second-team All-Big Ten honors.

Does he miss trying to score points instead of trying to prevent them?

"A tad bit," he said. "Every once in a while, you just want to touch the ball. But it wasn't too much of a big deal."