It hasn't taken Tennessee's Dennis Rogan much time to make his mark on the Vols' kick-return unit.

Now he's getting a little recognition from the SEC.

Rogan, a former Class 3A Mr. Football finalist at Fulton High School, was named the SEC's special teams player of the week Monday.

"We're really happy with Dennis," UT coach Phillip Fulmer said. "He's done just a fantastic job of making good decisions."

The true freshman had a combined 146 return yards in Saturday's win over Vanderbilt, 72 on three punt returns and 74 yards on three kickoff returns.

None was bigger than his 45-yard punt return that set up the game-winning field goal.

He even made a game-saving tackle.

On Vanderbilt's final kickoff return, Rogan stopped Commodores return man D.J. Moore from scoring.

Since taking over the return duties at midseason, Rogan is averaging 13 yards on punt returns and 31.7 on kickoff returns.

Those numbers put him in some elite company.

Or would.

Rogan only has eight kickoff returns in 10 games played, not enough to meet the 1.2 returns per game needed to rank among individual leaders in the NCAA or SEC stats.

On kickoff returns, Rogan would rank second in the SEC, behind Arkansas' Felix Jones (32.7) and ahead of Florida's Brandon James (29.0).

That 31.7-yard average would rank fifth nationally.

He would rank third in the SEC on punt returns behind James (18.7 yards per return) and Alabama's Javier Arenas (15.4).

Little Better: Tailback Rafael Little, Kentucky's leading rusher, is closer to 100 percent after missing three games this season.

"I would think so," Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said on his Sunday teleconference. "He had no setback in the game (against Georgia).

"If we get back to where we're blocking better, hopefully we'll get some production from our running game. That's one of the biggest reasons we were as good as we were through the first three quarters of this season."

Little, who played last week with a minor back injury, has 784 yards rushing and averages 5.7 yards per carry and 98 yards a game in his eight appearances this season.

Last week, however, Little had 32 yards on 16 carries.

The Wildcats had just 29 yards on 29 carries in a 24-13 loss to Georgia on Saturday.

Windy City: The win in Neyland Stadium on Saturday was tricky - so tricky, in fact, that UT kicker Daniel Lincoln abandoned trying to figure it out after missing an extra point and a field goal earlier in the game.

"You couldn't really get a bead on it," he said. "The hardest thing about it was the wind was doing something different on the middle of the field where you were kicking than it was at the goal posts."

Lincoln recovered to make a 33-yard game-winner in the fourth quarter.

Vandy's Bryant Hahnfeldt didn't fare as well on his game-winning try from 49 yards out with less than a minute remaining.

The culprit? Lincoln said the wind.

"I think the same thing happened with Vandy's kicker at the end of the game," Lincoln said. "He missed it badly. It came off his foot way left. He got some help from the wind to make it that close."

Lincoln Learns: On Tennessee's missed extra point - the first of Lincoln's career - Lincoln said he rushed the kick and hit behind the ball.

He also said he did not ask the official to move the ball along the extra-point line to improve his footing.

"I'm not making any excuses. It's inexcusable," Lincoln said. "It won't happen again."

Recruiting: Tennessee has offered Alcoa quarterback Randall Cobb a scholarship for the 2008 signing class. Cobb. who committed to Kentucky in June, could play a number of positions in college, including quarterback, receiver and defensive back.

Drew Edwards covers University of Tennessee football. He may be reached at 865-342-6274.

© 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.