Starting cornerback Dominique Morris will miss Vanderbilt's next three games with a broken toe on his left foot.

Morris was coming off a solid performance at Ole Miss where he broke up a career- and team-high three passes. He also made three tackles, including one for a loss, but at some point late in the game fractured his big toe.

The toe continued to give him trouble through Sunday, and an MRI revealed the break.

The former Montgomery Bell Academy star had started every game after bumping last year's starter, Aaron McWhorter, in the preseason. The redshirt freshman leads the team with four pass breakups and is tied for sixth with 20 tackles. McWhorter and Cheron Thompson will battle to step in as the starter against South Carolina Saturday.

Good news...

Dominique Morris may be back on the field for Vanderbilt sooner than expected. And Morris said yesterday that the big toe he fractured against Ole Miss had been bothering him well before that game.

An MRI taken Sunday revealed a break and the starting cornerback was originally thought to be out for as much as four weeks.

But Morris, who is wearing a boot on his left foot, did not require surgery and said yesterday that he believes he could return in half that time.

That would mean the former Montgomery Bell Academy star would only miss one game since the Commodores have a bye Oct. 5. He could be back for the MTSU game on Oct. 12.

''It is something that I've been struggling with and now it's time to get it better so that I can play a little bit harder, a little bit faster,'' Morris said. ''I kinda tweaked it in the Ole Miss game and it showed up again. It should take about two-to-three weeks to get better and I might not miss but just one game.''

Redshirt freshman Cheron Thompson has edged ahead of Aaron McWhorter to step in as Morris' replacement Saturday against South Carolina.

Two return: Defensive end Robert Dinwiddie, who left the Ole Miss game with a knee injury, returned to practice yesterday and will be available Saturday. Also, Brian Kovolisky is back on the first team at guard after being held out of the first half last week with a sprained ankle.

Fullback hurt: South Carolina freshman Daccus Turman replaced senior Andrew Pinnock in the starting lineup last week, but suffered a shoulder stinger in practice this week. The injury could limit the amount of time Turman plays against Vanderbilt.

The news isn't so good for wide receiver James Adkisson, who hurt his knee Sept. 7 against Virginia and has been hoping to return. He was able to go through some running drills at Tuesday's practice, but was ruled out yesterday for Saturday's game.

First start: The Gamecocks, who already had four freshmen starters, added another this week when cornerback Tremaine Tyler was moved to the first team.

''Tremaine has moxie about him,'' Coach Lou Holtz said. ''He plays the deep ball well and he isn't afraid of getting beat deep.''

Good news for who, or is it whom? Figured someone from Vandy would know. :)

We lost our best receiver for the year after he messed up his knee so our passing game needs a little work. Our best RB though, a true freshman sensation, is healthy (fingers and toes crossed). He's averaging 105.0 yds/game and would tie for 27th in the country (2nd freshman in the country) if he'd been healthy enough to play 75% of the games.

But, we've been inconsistant. We'll have a brilliant play, then throw an interception. The defense will hold the opponent to 3 and out, then fumble the ball. But that's about what you'd expect of a team that starts 8 freshmen/sophs.

Looking forward to this game. We're going to have it televised in CT.