Fair warning: Berry no longer playing hurt

Knoxville Magazine

Eric Berry

Bad news, Western Kentucky. You too, UCLA, and the rest. Eric Berry is finally healthy.

Perhaps it won't make any difference. Berry, Tennessee's All-American predator, never really pulled any punches even when he was playing with a bum shoulder the past two seasons.

"My shoulder,'' Berry said Tuesday, "is back to 120 percent.

"It hasn't felt this good, I want to say, since I was 12 and hurt it.''

The junior strong safety had corrective surgery in the offseason.

Not that he ever appeared to be less than 120 percent while he was assassinating receivers and running backs and compiling an interception highlight reel.

But after the most physical preseason camp of his career, Berry is extremely confident in his rebuilt shoulder.

So is first-year head coach Lane Kiffin.

"Eric has played so well for two years and that was really not a concern, him being physical,'' Kiffin said.

"We know that's going to be the case. That's how he is.''

Berry tested his shoulder in UT's first scrimmage, laying the wood to running back Montario Hardesty. He admitted holding his breath but the shoulder felt great.

Thus, Berry is easing into a guided-missile frame of mind as UT approaches the season opener.

"It's been hit on every angle, and hits that would have probably hurt me last year,'' he said. "But now it's perfect.''

So perfect he'll be looking for victims on special-teams assignments. Berry will line up on both kickoff and punt coverage.

That might seem risky to some, exposing a consensus All-American to the violence of special-teams mayhem.

Berry and Kiffin, however, agree that UT should have its best tackler on the field in a volatile scenario when big plays can me made - positive and negative.

"As a defensive player, we specialize in chasing people,'' Berry said. "That's what we do.

"Defense is pretty much an organized game of freeze-tag. All we do is chase people. If you look out there Saturday, you'll see a lot of starters on kickoff and punt coverage.''

You'll also see a lot of youngsters out there.

The Vols have a handful of true freshmen on the defensive depth chart.

Berry calls them the "young puppies,'' but he remembers being one himself not so long ago. It was only two years ago he started in his first college game, at California.

"They're not really cocky,'' he said, "but I would say they're confident ... and having that confidence as a defensive back is a very good thing.

"You don't want to come in here thinking you can't do something as a freshman because (the opponents) are just going to take advantage of you.

"There's no pity in college.''

Berry has certainly never showed any.

And now he has two good shoulders.

Mike Strange covers Tennessee football. He can be reached at 865-342-6276.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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