The Titans will look to contain Bills RB C.J. Spiller on Sunday. He's averaging 7.8 yards per carry and has five runs of 20 yards or more this season. (AP)

In 2009, former Clemson RB C.J. Spiller set the ACC all-time career record for total yards on a highlight reel 92-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Maryland. On the play, he raced by a gunner, spun past another player and then broke two more tackles en route to the end zone.

The Buffalo Bills' third-year running back somehow scored despite aggravating a nagging turf toe that remained severely swollen throughout his senior season.

“It pretty much looked like an extra toe,” said Tennessee Titans’ running back Jamie Harper, Spiller’s former teammate at Clemson.

The injury not only revealed Spiller’s iron will to succeed, it exemplified his selflessness. Former Clemson running backs coach Andre’ Powell gushes about how Spiller would often ask out of plays if Harper or Tigers RB Andre Ellington strung together several explosive runs. The diminutive running back still used a grueling rehab schedule to finish the season with 21 touchdowns and 2,680 all-purpose yards -- an ACC single-season record.

“He would rehab through the week and on Saturday just give it all he had every time,” Harper said. “He would go in sometimes to get a shot in the toe, try to re-tape it and just go out there and bust 60 or bust 70. There’s just something within a person where you can’t teach that.”

When the two former Tigers' running backs meet on Sunday, Harper will instruct Titans' linebackers to shoot at Spiller before he’s able to make his initial move. If Spiller makes one defender miss, he might not be stopped. In last week’s win over Arizona, the Bills’ running back forced nine broken tackles on 16 touches, according to Pro Football Focus. Spiller only has 60 carries this season but is fifth in the AFC with 453 yards (on 7.6 yards per carry). Five of Spiller’s runs have gone for 20 yards or more.

“He is stronger than people give him credit for,” Bills coach Chan Gailey said. “He understands where we want him to go more now. He has more patience in the hole and then when he sees the crease, he bursts through it.”

With the Pacific Coast Highway in the background, Spiller built leg strength over the summer by running a series of sprints up a sand dune outside Los Angeles. Spiller completed five to 10 reps of roughly 50 yards -- each on a dune he estimates is about 300 feet in height.

“That’s probably the toughest workout I’ve done because you’re running up a hill that’s full of sand,” Spiller said. “You’re zig-zagging, then you’re running to the top and then you run down and backpedal. Our trainer did a great job of pushing our bodies to the limit. When you think you can’t go anymore, you find that inner energy to push yourself further.”

The workouts concluded with a sprinting competition that Spiller said was won by Jets’ CB Antonio Cromartie in 10.4 seconds. Spiller was close behind at 10.6.

“I’m not that fast,” Spiller sheepishly said.

Titans linebacker Akeem Ayers disagrees. While watching film on Spiller this week, Ayers paid close attention to a run that the elusive back had in Week 5 against San Francisco. The 49ers appeared to have Spiller stuffed for a run of negative yardage, when he escaped and turned it into a sizeable gain.

“You saw everyone collapse around him and somehow he found a way to have positive yardage,” Ayers said. “We have to maintain gap control because they’re banking on you not being in the gap.”

Locker returns to practice: Starting quarterback Jake Locker threw on a limited basis in Wednesday’s practice during seven-on-seven drills. It marked the first time Locker attempted passes in a practice since he re-injured his left, non-throwing shoulder in Week 4 at Houston.

“It was what we hoped he’d be able to handle,” Titans coach Mike Munchak said. “Now we just have to see how sore he got, just keep progressing and giving him more to do. He’s a guy you have to hold back, he wants to be out there. In his mind, he could play tomorrow if we had to play.”

Munchak expects Locker to be available in two weeks when the Titans face the Colts.

Injury Update: Locker was the only Titans’ player who participated on a limited basis on Wednesday. Four Titans’ players -- RB Javon Ringer (knee), LB Zach Brown (illness), LB Colin McCarthy (ankle) and DT Jurrell Casey (shoulder) -- did not practice.

Munchak is optimistic that McCarthy and Casey will play at Buffalo. Ringer has been ruled out. OT Mike Otto (knee) and LB Patrick Bailey (hand) were full participants in practice.

For more up-to-the-minute news and analysis on the Tennessee Titans, follow Matt Rybaltowski @CBSTitans.