The man next door: Tim Frisby, All-American.(Know It All)

The age thing never was an issue until he pulled out his driver's license before practice one day and blew his teammates' minds. Now they call him "Pops." Say this much for Tim Frisby, South Carolina's oldest ever football walk-on: He's closer in age to the rest of the Gamecocks than he is to his 67-year-old coach, Lou Holtz.

But not by much.

Want someone to root for this summer? Here's your man: 39-year-old Tim Frisby, buried so deep on the depth chart of potential wide receivers at South Carolina, he probably won't make the team in the fall. A long shot at best. Yeah, like that's going to deter him from chasing a dream 20 years in the making.

This guy is an Airborne Ranger with the 6-1, 188-pound body of a 21-year-old. He fought in the first Gulf War and the conflict in Kosovo and has been standing guard for his country half his life. He gave up a basket ball scholarship at Tennessee State to join the Army in 1984, and his physique hasn't changed much since those days.

Tell him the road ahead will be tough, and he'll tell you he has heard it already. Only there was a little more on the line every other time.

"I'm not seeking glory," Frisby says. "I just want to play."

So maybe the odds of that happening aren't too good. Maybe Frisby, who will retire from the Army this summer, has a better chance of being called up for active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan than making the team. College coaches treasure walk-on roster spots for a variety of reasons, the biggest being some of the projects develop into players who belong on the field in big games.