Keeping track of Tennessee safety is at top of Hokies' to-do list

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Earlier this month, Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring made a recruiting trip to Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, where he ran into several coaches from Southeastern Conference schools.

Because the Hokies were preparing to play an SEC team, Tennessee, in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the topic of the coaches' conversation eventually turned to Eric Berry, the Volunteers' junior strong safety.

"You've got to have an awareness of where he is," Stinespring remembered his colleagues telling him. "Because if you can't find where he is, he'll find you."

Berry was a unanimous first-team All-American this season for the second consecutive year. He is just the second player in Tennessee history to earn that distinction twice in a career. Berry also won the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation's top defensive back.

He has started every game of his three-year career, and many observers expect tomorrow night's game against the Hokies in Atlanta to be his last. He is projected as a top-five NFL draft pick, owing to his rare combination of ball-tracking ability, ferocious hitting and sprinter's speed.

Berry has 14 career interceptions and 17 pass break-ups. But the Volunteers also use him to stop running plays, having him creep toward the line of scrimmage "much more than other safeties," said Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Berry ranks second on his team with 83 tackles. "He's more a linebacker and a hitter than he is a true defensive back," said Tech quarterbacks coach Mike O'Cain.

Berry's teammates also consider him one of the Volunteers' most prepared players. Whenever defensive tackle Dan Williams goes to his position's meeting room to watch film, he peeks into the defensive backs' room down the hall. "Eric is always in there," Williams said.

Berry studies any safeties whose skills he admires, regardless of their stripe. He watched video of Georgia junior Reshad Jones and Florida junior Major Wright, noticing their proper tackling form. He watched Florida's other starting safety, junior Ahmad Black, and admired the technique he used when playing man-to-man defense on a wide receiver who lines up in the slot.

With a new coaching staff arriving this season, Berry learned defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin's scheme over the summer by loading his playbook into the "Madden NFL" video game on his PlayStation 2. "You're not actually out there doing it," Berry said. "But you're going through all the checks you have to make and where you're supposed to be on certain plays."

He possesses the skills to maximize that preparation.

His speed has allowed him to run back three interceptions for touchdowns in his career and accumulate 494 interception-return yards, eight shy of breaking the NCAA record.

He took up track as a high school sophomore in Fairburn, Ga., 25 miles south of downtown Atlanta, after he got dragged down one yard short of a 100-yard interception return. He won the state's 200-meter championship the following spring. He said the experience taught him how to "manage your breathing while you're running" and "learn how to think when you're tired."

Berry's knack for hitting -- honored with several YouTube highlight videos -- draws impressive comparisons from teammates. "He reminds me -- how he hits -- of Jack Tatum," said linebacker LaMarcus Thompson, referring to the fearsome Oakland Raiders safety from the 1970s. "He runs through his hits. He doesn't stop his feet."

Said Berry: "The way I hit represents how I play, [and] that's hard every play. If I'm going to tackle somebody, I'm not going to hold anything back."

He is, however, staying tight-lipped about whether he will leave for the NFL, though he said his mind is "kind of made up now." Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin, who coached the Raiders before coming to Knoxville, said Berry is "extremely ready" for the NFL.

Kiffin said NFL teams will like that Berry performed a variety of tasks in college: man-to-man coverage, blitzing, stopping the run, even special teams. Kiffin told Berry that "he's done everything that he can do and if he wants to go, this is the time to go."

The future seems wealthy for Berry, who turned 21 yesterday, but first he wants to wow his hometown crowd tomorrow by causing problems for Stinespring and Tech's offense.

"We've asked Tennessee to put a little red light on top of Eric so we know where he is all the time," Stinespring said. "They haven't really gotten back to us as to whether they're going to do that."

Contact Darryl Slater at (804) 649-6026 or dslater@timesdispatch.com