Montario Hardesty will start at tailback for Tennessee on Saturday against Arkansas, but LaMarcus Coker will get some carries, UT coach Phillip Fulmer said Thursday.

"Montario's been there," he said. "But to those guys, it really doesn't matter."

Sophmore Arian Foster won't be available until the second half because of a suspension.

Coker, who suffered a knee injury against Alabama on Oct. 21, was expected to miss 3-6 weeks with the injury. Saturday will be exactly three weeks, putting Coker well ahead of schedule.

"He's had a great week of practice," Fulmer said. "Speed of the game is always different, but he hasn't missed a beat out here. He doesn't want to wear the brace, but he's going to wear the brace for a little while."

Cut Connection: Tennessee offensive coordinator David Cutcliffe knows a little something about Arkansas defensive coordinator Reggie Herring.

While at Ole Miss, Cutcliffe actually hired Herring, then defensive coordinator at Clemson, following the 2001 season.

Herring never coached a game for the Rebels, leaving to coach linebackers for the NFL's Houston Texans shortly after accepting the job at Ole Miss.

Rollin' Out: Quarterback Jonathan Crompton, who will make his first career start Saturday in place of the injured Erik Ainge (ankle), said he expects Arkansas to be more prepared for him to roll out of the pocket, given last week's game plan in a loss to LSU.

"Arkansas's going to have a little more of a game plan for that," Crompton said. "That's expected. We're just going to go out there and execute our gameplan. We're not going to change what we do."

Scouting Report: Fulmer said he expects Arkansas' defense to rely on man coverage as they have all season.

"That's a real challenge for our receivers to beat press (coverage)," Fulmer said.

UT isn't the only team with some uncertainty at quarterback. Arkansas has played sophomore Casey Dick and freshman Mitch Mustain this season although Dick will start. Cornerback Jonathan Wade said Dick could be more challenging because he hasn't played as much as Mustain meaning UT doesn't have as much tape to study.

"We don't know Dick's personality quite as much as we know Mustain's," he said.

Cold Kicking: Kicker James Wilhoit said cold weather tends to shorten his kicks by "about 5 yards." That could be the case this week.

Saturday's predicted low temperature in Fayetteville, Ark., is 32 degrees. The high is only supposed to reach 52.

Wilhoit has made 23 of his last 27 field goal tries, including 12-of-15 this season. Aside from team goals, Wilhoit also has a personal mark to shoot for.

"My biggest goal right now is to finish off the season strong and try to keep moving up the charts," the senior said.

Wilhoit has 299 career points at UT, which means he should become only the fourth Vol to top 300 points in a career this week. Jeff Hall (371) is UT's career leader in points scored followed by John Becksvoort (317) and Fuad Reveiz (314).

If there's been any shortcoming in Wilhoit's game, it's been kicks from 40 to 49 yards, where he is 3-of-6 this season. Inside 40 yards, Wilhoit is 8-for-8. From 50-plus, he's 1-for-1.

"The 40-yarders are something that are a little more pressure to me because I expect to make those," Wilhoit said. "But they're not a guaranteed kick either."

Roll Call: Ainge got his most significant action in practice this week on Thursday, however the junior's injured right ankle was heavily taped.

Middle linebacker Marvin Mitchell (shoulder) practiced again Thursday, as did outside linebacker Jerod Mayo.

Fulmer expects both to start Saturday, but said backup linebacker Ellix Wilson will see more time on the field after his five-tackle performance against LSU.

"I was really happy with what Ellix did last week," Fulmer said. "He'll get some more chances."

Viewers: Jennifer Sabatelle, communications manager of CBS Sports, said the LSU-Tennessee game averaged 5.9 million viewers, the most for a college football game on CBS since 6.5 million watched the overtime game between LSU and Alabama last November.

Dave Hooker contributed to this report.