ERIC BERRY
University of Tennessee
Defensive Back, 2007-09
 
Eric Berry may have been a native of Georgia, but Tennesseans have always embraced him as one of their own. His father James was a captain at Tennessee. His younger twin brothers played for the Volunteers, too. It's where Berry first made his mark nationally as a player, before becoming a role model at the NFL level as he battled back from cancer. Now Berry can be immortalized as a College Football Hall of Famer, becoming the 22nd former Tennessee player to earn the honor.
 
"I wasn't born in Tennessee but the Berry roots and Berry legacy runs deep," Berry told the Tennessean this summer in Nashville after making the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. "My dad went here. A lot of his friends went here. My brothers went here. You heard Rocky Top. Rocky Top will always be home sweet home to me. To see those lyrics and that song actually means something. They pretty much embraced me as their own."
 
A prep football and track star at Creekside High in Fairburn, Ga., Berry was a U.S. Army All-American who made an immediate impact upon stepping foot on the Knoxville campus in 2007. Berry helped lift the Volunteers to the SEC title game. He led SEC freshmen with 86 tackles and was named the conference's freshman of the year.
 
Berry picked off five passes in 2007 and amassed 222 interception return yards, beating Bobby Majors' school record of 177 from 1970. Berry went on to top his own record the following season, when he was named the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year after recording seven interceptions for 265 return yards, an SEC single-season record. His 494-career interception return yards are also an SEC record.
 
"I think I had great mentors," Berry told the newspaper. "I think I had great coaches in little league. My dad, but outside of my dad, a great community, getting to high school and having a coach who challenged me, didn't let me settle, and then getting to the University of Tennessee where I felt like Coach (Phillip) Fulmer (HOF Class of 2012) and that staff challenged me, as well as Inky Johnson and a few of my other teammates who I really hold in high regards. And they just always pushed me to the best that I could be."
 
A two-time captain, Berry became the school's first two-time unanimous First Team All-American in 2008 and 2009, and he won the Jim Thorpe Award in 2009 as the nation's top defensive back. He also won the Jack Tatum Award from the Touchdown Club of Columbus, as the nation's top defensive back.
 
Berry exited college with career totals of 245 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, 14 interceptions, 31 passes defended, two forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries. His efforts led Tennessee to two bowl berths, including a 21-17 win over Wisconsin in the 2008 Outback Bowl, which gave the Vols a final No. 12 ranking.
 
The Chiefs picked Berry No. 5 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft, and he performed in the pros to the level he played at in college, making the first of five Pro Bowl appearances during his rookie year. He became a three-time All-Pro, and he made the NFL's all-decade team.
 
Berry became a national inspiration in 2014 when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a disease he overcame to win the NFL's comeback player of the year award in 2015. He has donated more than $100,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and he has been a source of influence for many who have battled cancer, including NFL running back James Conner, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2015 while at Pitt and returned to become a First Team All-ACC player in 2016.
 
"I understand the magnitude of these awards but there's also an understanding of a reference point on that timeline which was me overcoming cancer," Berry told the newspaper. "It's all about the people that I've encountered on my journey."
 
Berry played four more seasons after his diagnosis, all in Kansas City, finishing his career with 445 tackles and 14 interceptions.
 
Following his NFL career, Berry returned to his hometown of Fairburn, Georgia, and he currently works as an entrepreneur. He established the Eric Berry Foundation in 2011, which provides safe environments for children to participate in sports, and he hosts annual youth football clinics in Atlanta, Kansas City and throughout Tennessee. He has donated funds for the field turf in Duncan Park (GA) where he learned to play football. Berry is the one of three former Chiefs teammates who are a part of this year's Hall of Fame class, along with Jeremy Maclin and Derrick Johnson.
 
"He didn't play as long as you would think he would have played, because he made such a big impact in such a short amount of time," Johnson said of Berry. "When you talk about a leader, you're talking about Eric Berry."
 
UP CLOSE:

• Named a two-time unanimous First Team All-American (2008 and 2009), claiming the Jim Thorpe Award in 2009 as the nation's top defensive back after being a finalist in 2008.
• Holds the record as the SEC's all-time leader in career interception return yards (494) and single-season interception return yards (265 in 2008) as well as the Vol record for career yards (35.3) per interception.
• Finished his career with 245 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, 14 interceptions, 31 passes defended, two forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries.
• Played for Hall of Fame Coach Phillip Fulmer and one year under Lane Kiffin.
• Becomes the 22nd Vols player to enter the College Football Hall of Fame.