KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Evan Berry emerged last year as an All-American return specialist.
The younger brother of VFL and Kansas City Chiefs star safety Eric Berry, Evan returned three kickoffs and one interception for a touchdown as a sophomore in 2015.
The three kickoff return touchdowns tied Willie Gault (1980) for most in a season at Tennessee, and Berry also is the first Volunteer to return multiple kicks for a touchdown in the same season since Gault did so in 1980.
Those wasn’t his only entries in Tennessee’s record book.
Berry’s 100-yard interception return for a touchdown in the Outback Bowl blowout of Northwestern equaled the longest interception return in Tennessee history, tying Ray Martin in 1953, and his 100-yard kick return at Kentucky tied four others, with the most recent being Leonard Scott (1999), for Tennessee’s longest return in school history.
By returning the opening kick for a touchdown against Arkansas last season, Berry also joined Gault (1980 vs. Kentucky) as being the last two Volunteers to open a game with a kickoff return for a touchdown.
Berry, 5-11, 207, ranked first in NCAA and in the SEC in kickoff return average (38.3). He fell inches short of the NCAA all-time single-season kickoff return average record (based on 1.5 returns per game) held by JJ Nelson of UAB (38.32 in 2014).
Berry’s 804 kickoff return yards in 2015 rank second at Tennessee to David Oku’s 863 yards in 2009. For a career, Berry ranks fifth with 1,217. Gault’s record of 1,854 is well within reach.
An All-American returner, Berry’s impact on special teams is, well, special. But what kind of impact will he make on defense?
That’s been one of the early storylines of preseason camp. He is coming back from a shoulder injury this spring. Berry missed all of spring practices due to the injury.
New defensive coordinator Bob Shoop likes what he saw during the first week of fall camp.
“Boy, he’s pretty good,” Shoop told reporters. “He’s explosive. It certainly doesn’t take a Mel Kiper to make that statement there.
“He’s really fast and explosive and big and strong. And obviously he wasn’t out there in the spring a whole lot, so through the first days of practice (have been important). He’s an example of a guy I thought the first day was a little out of control and didn’t have a significant amount of attention to detail, but the effort was there. And then Day 2, you know, he made some plays on the ball. He’s continuing to get, you know, back into the swing of things. I think he’s a guy that can have a role on our defense.”
So, what exactly might Berry’s role be?
The safety position is stacked with Todd Kelly Jr., Rashaan Gaulden, Stephen Griffin, Nigel Warrior and Micah Abernathy. But it’s easy to envision Berry being a factor, playing the ball, in a free safety role.
Shoop likes the Vols’ depth and will rely on it.
“There is competition within the framework of the position,” Shoop said. “But it’s also, again, I think one of the things we can bring to the table – and I said that in the defensive meeting to the unit – is that everybody that deserves to play will play, and the amount that they deserve to play.
“I’m not averse to playing a lot of guys, especially early, when you’re playing all these tempo, no-huddle teams that are going to run 85-90 snaps a game. We’ll develop packages to get some of those guys on the field.”
One possibility is using Berry in the nickel-scheme, where senior Malik Foreman and freshman Marquill Osborne also figure to get some time.
“Safety play is funny,” Shoop told The Tennessean. “I always say you have to have linebacker toughness, because you have to do things in the box that require you to support the run, be a good tackler, be physical. They require a corner’s skill set because more and more you have to cover slot receivers, quick guys in open space. And you have to have a quarterback’s mentality.
“In the local paper that’s the want ad I put out. I’m looking for a guy with linebacker toughness, cornerback skill set, a quarterback’s mentality.”
Does Berry have all of that? With his ability to turn a pick into six, he’ll get a chance to show us soon enough.
Dan Harralson covers Tennessee football for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Dan on Twitter @danharralson.
