EB for Heisman

[UTVols2]

He was on the receiving end of that tho...and yeah, it's common knowledge...I hate UT.

BTW supr-beast, my best friend (who is basically my brother) his sister works at the Auburn bookstore on campus. She is supposed to hook me up with tickets sometime, I would like to go watch a game down there to take in the atmosphere.

[sup-rbeast]

BTW supr-beast, my best friend (who is basically my brother) his sister works at the Auburn bookstore on campus. She is supposed to hook me up with tickets sometime, I would like to go watch a game down there to take in the atmosphere.

Take me with ya...I'll show ya around.. I love me a game on the plains. BTW, yesterday in the Knoxville News Sentinel there was an interesting article on Berry...seems Kiffin is willin to trade Berry's big play ability and Interceptions in order to move him closer to the line of scrimmage. Another mistake IMO.

[Biggin]

wow I think it would be a terrible decision to move Berry up to a LB.

If you move him up, you take away his best ability, intercepting passes and returning them for positive yards.

He could def. play an OLB, he is almost as big as Thomas Davis, and the Panthers moved him from S to OLB, and he has played great.

But taking your best player out of his natural position? Not a very football-intelligent move

[sup-rbeast]

I added the stars to set apart Kiffin's remarks cuz I don't know how to put the letters in bold on this new system. Anyways....



Strange: Berry's role not big on visibility

By Mike Strange
Posted October 6, 2009 at 9:28 p.m.

Eric Berry among the top tacklers in the SEC? What's surprising about that? Everybody knows Tennessee's All-American is as good a defensive player as there is in college football.

It should be surprising, though. That's linebacker turf.

Linebackers aren't usually running around in pass coverage like defensive backs or fighting off double-team blocks like linemen. They're close to the action. They're supposed to make the most tackles.

Take the top 10 tacklers in the SEC this week. There are nine linebackers. And there, ranked No. 3, is Berry, nominally a safety, a defensive back.

"The position I'm playing right now, I don't really know what that position is called," Berry said with a chuckle Tuesday.

"I think it's safety or something. Or sacker. Or safety-backer.''

Whatever it is, it hasn't led to the kind of jaw-dropping video highlights that propelled Berry into the national spotlight in 2008. It was this time a year ago the Berry rocket blasted off.

He had recorded five interceptions as a freshman in 2007, most notably the one with a 96-yard return against Tim Tebow. Through UT's first four games of 2008, Berry had two interceptions but no dazzling returns.

Then he took the art of the interception to another level last October.

Northern Illinois: Bang, 48 yards. Georgia: Bang, 54 yards. There goes the UT career return yardage record.

Mississippi State: Bang, 72 yards for a touchdown. There goes the SEC career record.

South Carolina: Bang, 45 yards. Vanderbilt: Bang, 45 yards for a touchdown.

Berry ended the season - his sophomore season, mind you - only 15 yards shy of the NCAA career return yardage record.

Five games into 2009, Berry is still 15 yards shy. His only interception so far was a dive at Florida.

Lane Kiffin, Berry's new head coach, spoke Tuesday about the value of what he calls "explosive plays" that come from special teams or defense and can change momentum.

"You create energy with field-position plays,'' Kiffin said. "It's why people in sudden-change (situations) usually score more than they do normally.

"It's not because of where the ball is. It's just because of the energy it creates.''

The kind of plays Berry made last year were the gold standard for energizing a team and crowd. Or, just as important, for deflating an opponent and a hostile crowd.

Much of this season, however, Berry has been closer to the line of scrimmage. In the box, so to speak.

"I'm pretty much like another linebacker down there,'' Berry said, "but he still puts me in man coverage and things like that.

"Whichever way I can help the team, that's what I'm going to do.''

Make no mistake about the fact that Berry is still helping the team.

He's averaging nine tackles a game. He had 16 against Auburn. At this pace he'll finish with 108, compared to 72 last season. Unlike your run-of-the-mill All-American he even covers punts and kickoffs.

********As much as Kiffin would enjoy watching Berry pick off a Georgia pass Saturday and take off in the other direction, he's convinced UT is getting the most mileage out of Berry by moving him around, bringing him from different angles to patrol the line of scrimmage and even pressure the quarterback.

"You could put him back there (deep) and, OK, maybe he's going to make some interceptions back there,'' Kiffin said.

"But If I'm on offense and I know where he's at, the ball's not going to go over there. He's in so many different areas (now) it's hard to stay away from him.''

And there is this, Kiffin added:

"Put him back there and we wouldn't have nearly as good a run defense. I've always felt and it's the philosophy of our staff, we've got to be able to run the ball and be able to stop the run, especially as you're first starting a program.''******

UT fans have seven more games to enjoy Berry. He will almost certainly leave for the NFL after the season.

Maybe the highlight plays will come. I hope so. Who doesn't enjoy watching the spectacular?

Maybe they won't come. If that's the case, enjoy watching a guy make a difference with nine, 10 or 16 tackles.

2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.

Strange: Berry's role not big on visibility GoVolsXtra

[sup-rbeast]

IMO, UT's run D is good enough to leave Berry back and let him make game breaking plays....but who knows what runs through Kiffin's head.

[UTVols2]

I have noticed that all this year Monte has had Berry up in the box a majority of the time. That is how Monte has always done things, John Lynch for example.

But I can defintely see both sides of this story, if you bring EB up in the box like that it does take away from his playmaking abilities in the secondary.

I think this is more of a decision by Monte instead of Lane. Lane has said from the get go that he was letting his dad and Coach O take care of the defensive side of the ball.

While I do like EB in the box some and roaming around different places so the D can't count on him being in one position and staying away from just that side of the field, I would also like to see him drop back into coverage more than he has....

My expectations this week are a little higher than they were last week at Auburn because we will be facing a more traditional pro style offense vs the spread the past 5 weeks.

If only our O can get going, I am not that worried about the D, they normally come through. Imagine if we can get them off the field for more than a 2 minute water break.

[sup-rbeast]

IMO, when you have a play maker like Berry, you make the most of his ability. Lynch was a good player, but nowhere near as electrifying as Berry...IMO it limits his contribution to the D when he is brought closer to the LOS.

[UTVols2]

Take me with ya...I'll show ya around.. I love me a game on the plains.

And definitely, if I ever head down that way I will yell at ya. I would love to actually take in a game at all the SEC schools just to say I have.

[Biggin]

I agree with beast on this.

Berry is such a dynamic cover guy, he is more valuable creating turnovers and shutting down a passing game than coming up and making a few tackles.

When you have a guy that can pick off any pass and take it to the house, itd be asinine to take that away from your team.

Lynch has nowhere near the talent of Berry, Lynch was a great tackler but not a very good coverage guy.
Berry has all the tools and great natural instincts as a DB, you should not take that away from your team.

[Biggin]

And definitely, if I ever head down that way I will yell at ya. I would love to actually take in a game at all the SEC schools just to say I have.

I've been trying for years to make it to Tuscaloosa for the Auburn/Bama game.

If you could get tickets, supr-beast promises you a handjob underneath the table! lol

Beast, if you do find AU/UA tickets, PM me. I would love to make it to the Iron Bowl.
I've never been to a SEC game aside from Knoxvegas.