YamaVol
September 10th, 2009, 11:26 AM
I've just finished working on a feature for ESPN The Magazine about Tennessee Volunteers star safety Eric Berry (it will be available on ESPN.com tomorrow) and was blown away after spending a little time around him and speaking to those closest to him.
So, can he go No. 1 in the 2010 NFL draft?
Sure. Here are 10 reasons why:
To check out Bruce's 10 reasons why Eric Berry could jump Sam Bradford, Gerald McCoy and other potential No. 1 picks -- and to read an interesting interview with Luther Campbell (the rapper) about what Jacory Harris means to Miami football -- you must be an ESPN Insider.
1. A man who should know says so
"He's the complete package," says Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, one of the most respected defensive minds across the last several decades in football. "He can run. Hit. He is very, very smart, so he picks things up so fast. The other thing about him is Eric's such a great leader. They hang on every word he says."
2. Always wanting more
When friends attempted to console Berry after Ohio State's Malcolm Jenkins won the Jim Thorpe Award last year, he actually consoled them, saying, "Oh, well, I'll just go harder the next year." Says pal and South Carolina O-lineman Rokevious Watkins: "Any other guy would've been like, 'They cheated us.' But not him; he's like, 'Well, I guess I didn't do enough. I had seven interceptions. Let me go for 12.'"
3. Completely selfless
A few months after his mom told Berry that she had been laid off from her job, Berry's dad told him he'd been laid off, too. Yet with Berry, it's never about how a situation affects him. "A lot of people are dealing with this stuff," Berry says of the layoffs. "I'm just worried about my younger brothers because a lot of times we take things for granted. We never really had a lot, but my parents made it seem like we did. My brothers probably don't understand fully what's going on, and that's probably a good thing."
4. Tremendous athlete overall
Berry's first love was actually baseball. He was great at that, too. As a freshman, he went 7-0 with a no-hitter as a pitcher, but he was persuaded by his coaches to run track instead because it would help him more as a football player. "We had no idea he'd win the 200-meter dash as a sophomore," says his high school coach, Johnny T. White. "We just talked him into it to make him better. Then his senior year he won the state long-jump title."
5. Cannot be outworked
Coach White used Berry's example to motivate his team. Says White, "I'd always tell kids, 'You're letting him outwork you, and you're half the athlete he is.'"
6. Logical
Berry interned with a dentist in high school: "That's a field that's never going to go anywhere," Berry says. "People are always going to have cavities and need root canals."
7. Doesn't define himself solely as a football player
His greatest accomplishment is something that didn't involve sports or school. Rokevious Watkins, a mammoth 6-4, 340-pound junior offensive lineman at South Carolina, cringes when he thinks where he would be if it weren't for Berry. Watkins' mom had left his family when he was in eighth grade, and he and his dad bounced from place to place throughout high school. "We were living in the streets for a long time," Watkins says. "Eric was the one who was always there for me. He just kept telling me to keep pushing. 'Keep grindin'. Keep grindin'.' He made me realize things that I couldn't see. When I was in high school, I wasn't getting those offers or whatever. I felt like I wasn't talented enough to play big-time football or it wasn't meant to be, but he kept telling me: 'I see it in you. You just gotta keep working. Keep going.'
"I was doubting myself, saying, 'Well, if football don't work, I'll do whatever I have to to make it, even it means something illegal.' I was real close to going the wrong way. I was close to going to jail, killing somebody, the normal things associated with street life. But Eric snatched me up and told me there was a better way."
Watkins' dad died of lung cancer two weeks after the teammates graduated from high school, and the big lineman had fallen a quarter-credit shy of being eligible to play in Division I and had to go to a junior college. But even after that, Berry kept motivating him. "I can't thank Eric enough for keeping me going," says Watkins, who just enrolled at South Carolina. "He still keeps me going. We talk every single day."
8. Respects bravado but doesn't practice it
"It's something I'd like to do, but I wouldn't do," says Berry, who admits he is a big fan of guys like Manny Ramirez and Chad Ochocinco. "I probably would be the last one to get the celebration penalty."
9. A parallel with another high-impact NFL rookie
Kyle Strongin, Tennessee's football operations man, worked at Ole Miss and later in scouting with the 49ers. He says Berry reminds him so much of Patrick Willis, now a star linebacker by the Bay: "He is so professional and has no ego. You really couldn't ask for a better kid."
10. Focus on the details
Berry doesn't worry about individual stats or even trying to break the NCAA career interception return yardage record. (He needs only 15 more yards to eclipse the mark of 501, set by Florida State's Terrell Buckley.) "I don't focus on the accolade part of it. Instead, it's stuff such as, 'Think clearly out of my back-pedal.' If I work on all of the little details than the rest of it will come."
So, can he go No. 1 in the 2010 NFL draft?
Sure. Here are 10 reasons why:
To check out Bruce's 10 reasons why Eric Berry could jump Sam Bradford, Gerald McCoy and other potential No. 1 picks -- and to read an interesting interview with Luther Campbell (the rapper) about what Jacory Harris means to Miami football -- you must be an ESPN Insider.
1. A man who should know says so
"He's the complete package," says Tennessee defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, one of the most respected defensive minds across the last several decades in football. "He can run. Hit. He is very, very smart, so he picks things up so fast. The other thing about him is Eric's such a great leader. They hang on every word he says."
2. Always wanting more
When friends attempted to console Berry after Ohio State's Malcolm Jenkins won the Jim Thorpe Award last year, he actually consoled them, saying, "Oh, well, I'll just go harder the next year." Says pal and South Carolina O-lineman Rokevious Watkins: "Any other guy would've been like, 'They cheated us.' But not him; he's like, 'Well, I guess I didn't do enough. I had seven interceptions. Let me go for 12.'"
3. Completely selfless
A few months after his mom told Berry that she had been laid off from her job, Berry's dad told him he'd been laid off, too. Yet with Berry, it's never about how a situation affects him. "A lot of people are dealing with this stuff," Berry says of the layoffs. "I'm just worried about my younger brothers because a lot of times we take things for granted. We never really had a lot, but my parents made it seem like we did. My brothers probably don't understand fully what's going on, and that's probably a good thing."
4. Tremendous athlete overall
Berry's first love was actually baseball. He was great at that, too. As a freshman, he went 7-0 with a no-hitter as a pitcher, but he was persuaded by his coaches to run track instead because it would help him more as a football player. "We had no idea he'd win the 200-meter dash as a sophomore," says his high school coach, Johnny T. White. "We just talked him into it to make him better. Then his senior year he won the state long-jump title."
5. Cannot be outworked
Coach White used Berry's example to motivate his team. Says White, "I'd always tell kids, 'You're letting him outwork you, and you're half the athlete he is.'"
6. Logical
Berry interned with a dentist in high school: "That's a field that's never going to go anywhere," Berry says. "People are always going to have cavities and need root canals."
7. Doesn't define himself solely as a football player
His greatest accomplishment is something that didn't involve sports or school. Rokevious Watkins, a mammoth 6-4, 340-pound junior offensive lineman at South Carolina, cringes when he thinks where he would be if it weren't for Berry. Watkins' mom had left his family when he was in eighth grade, and he and his dad bounced from place to place throughout high school. "We were living in the streets for a long time," Watkins says. "Eric was the one who was always there for me. He just kept telling me to keep pushing. 'Keep grindin'. Keep grindin'.' He made me realize things that I couldn't see. When I was in high school, I wasn't getting those offers or whatever. I felt like I wasn't talented enough to play big-time football or it wasn't meant to be, but he kept telling me: 'I see it in you. You just gotta keep working. Keep going.'
"I was doubting myself, saying, 'Well, if football don't work, I'll do whatever I have to to make it, even it means something illegal.' I was real close to going the wrong way. I was close to going to jail, killing somebody, the normal things associated with street life. But Eric snatched me up and told me there was a better way."
Watkins' dad died of lung cancer two weeks after the teammates graduated from high school, and the big lineman had fallen a quarter-credit shy of being eligible to play in Division I and had to go to a junior college. But even after that, Berry kept motivating him. "I can't thank Eric enough for keeping me going," says Watkins, who just enrolled at South Carolina. "He still keeps me going. We talk every single day."
8. Respects bravado but doesn't practice it
"It's something I'd like to do, but I wouldn't do," says Berry, who admits he is a big fan of guys like Manny Ramirez and Chad Ochocinco. "I probably would be the last one to get the celebration penalty."
9. A parallel with another high-impact NFL rookie
Kyle Strongin, Tennessee's football operations man, worked at Ole Miss and later in scouting with the 49ers. He says Berry reminds him so much of Patrick Willis, now a star linebacker by the Bay: "He is so professional and has no ego. You really couldn't ask for a better kid."
10. Focus on the details
Berry doesn't worry about individual stats or even trying to break the NCAA career interception return yardage record. (He needs only 15 more yards to eclipse the mark of 501, set by Florida State's Terrell Buckley.) "I don't focus on the accolade part of it. Instead, it's stuff such as, 'Think clearly out of my back-pedal.' If I work on all of the little details than the rest of it will come."