Ainge, Swain: Forget the pain

And he chuckled.

"I shouldn't have come in here with all these braces," the senior wide receiver said. "But it's part of it, man. Part of it."

Not that anyone around Tennessee football needs a reminder that injuries are a part of the game.

Quarterback Erik Ainge, sporting a walking boot to protect his injured right ankle, did not practice Monday.

Swain did practice, despite adding an injured thumb to a high ankle sprain.

The thumb, which Swain said is not broken and "just a little tender" after taking a hard pass from Ainge, is not as big a concern as his ankle.

Still, Ainge and Swain expect to play Saturday when the eighth-ranked Vols play host to No. 13 LSU for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff (TV: WVLT) in Neyland Stadium.

"There's no doubts in my mind that I'm going to be ready to play on Saturday," Ainge said.

Ainge suffered the ankle injury on a called quarterback draw late in Saturday's 31-24 victory over South Carolina.

Tennessee didn't return from Columbia until the wee hours Sunday morning, but Ainge made it to the training room by 8 a.m.

He'll spend plenty more time with Jason McVeight and the training staff before the week is done in hopes of returning to practice.

When - or if - he returns to practice is anyone's guess.

"It's a day-to-day type thing," Ainge said of the ankle. "I'm not worried if I miss a day of practice or two days of practice that I wouldn't be physically on my game. Most of my preparation game week is mental anyway. If anything, I can do more of that which could end up helping me out."

Swain, who until Monday had not gone through a full practice since suffering his left ankle injury against Georgia on Oct. 7, said he needs some work this week.

"I'm practicing," Swain said. "I felt rusty out there on Saturday. I need to go out there and get some things done, hurt ankle or not."

UT coach Phillip Fulmer said that Ainge needs to practice in order to be prepared for the Tigers and the nation's top-ranked defense.

"A receiver going in and running a couple crossing routes and catching them is a whole lot different than a quarterback having to see all the fronts and coverages and all that business," Fulmer said. "He (Ainge) needs to practice, hopefully he'll be able to."

In the meantime, backup quarterback Jonathan Crompton will get extra work with the first team.

Crompton, who took all three snaps on Tennessee's final series against the Gamecocks, has played in four games this season and completed all four of his pass attempts.

Fulmer said he has confidence in the redshirt freshman, should Ainge not be able to play against LSU.

"Like any other position, you prepare the backup to be ready in case he can't, but we fully expect him to be ready to go," he said. "Jon understands what we're doing. We would try and stay within parameters that we felt really comfortable with.

"I've always said this, but we probably give the backup quarterback more practice than anybody that I know of, at least. They get about 50 percent of the work in practice and practice is not a game, and certainly not a game against LSU. But whoever's out there, we have to play our very, very best."

The Vols have done a good job of playing through pain.

Offensive tackle Arron Sears, defensive tackle Turk McBride, tailback Arian Foster and receiver Bret Smith have played injured at times this season.

"I think most of our teams have had this kind of toughness," Fulmer said. "We get that almost every year. I think it's passed down from the older guys; I think it comes from the staff (and) myself. There's a difference between pain and injury. There's a mindset that you learn to play with."

Nothing hammered home that mindset more than the example set by Justin Harrell, who delayed surgery for a week to repair a ruptured biceps tendon in order to play against Florida.

"You really don't have a choice," Ainge said. "This is LSU. We're 7-1 and we're playing LSU, that's the biggest game of the season. We don't have a choice but to get healthy and get out there."

That's what Swain did Saturday against South Carolina.

Receivers coach Trooper Taylor told the Knoxville Quarterback Club the Vols almost left Swain at home.

But Friday night in the team hotel, he tested the ankle and felt good enough in pregame warm-ups to play.

"I'm going to do whatever it takes for this team to win. That's what it comes to," Swain said. "Sometimes you get hurt, sometimes things don't work out the way you want to, but you've got to find a way."

Ainge feels the same way.

"I have all the confidence in the world that by 3:30 on Saturday that with all the adrenaline you get, then I'll be fine," he said. "It's football. You've got to play through stuff like this."