Although it’s a foregone conclusion that Eric Berry will leave Knoxville a year early, the Tennessee safety said earlier this month that he won’t officially announce his decision until after the Volunteers’ bowl game Thursday.
If the All-American listens to his head coach, though, this will indeed be his final year in college football.
Speaking to the media ahead of his team’s Chick-fil-A Bowl game against Virginia Tech Thursday, Lane Kiffin revealed the advice he gave to a player who’s a near-consensus Top-Five pick in the next NFL draft if he does jump.
“These may be the only conversations that I don’t recruit in is with these guys,” Kiffin said. “It’s too important for them to make the right decision. This isn’t about me, it isn’t about Tennessee.
“This is about Eric and Eric’s family, and so I told Eric from my perspective that he’s done everything that he can do. If he wants to go, this is the time to go.”
For his part, Berry still wouldn’t reveal his decision, although he did admit his mind was pretty much made up. And he heavily intimated what everybody already knows -- the bowl game will be his final game in a Tennessee uniform.
“It’s kind of made up, but right now I don’t want to get into that,” Berry said. “I want to focus on Virginia Tech and just deal with that right now.
“I really just wanted to make sure there was no stone unturned. I sat down with coach Kiffin and talked about it, sat down with my family, talked with some of my close teammates and friends about the whole situation. I wanted to make sure I weighed out every possible scenario and situation that could happen.”