When Eric Berry was deciding whether to enter the 2010 draft or return for his senior season at Tennessee, one of the people whose opinion he sought was his defensive coordinator last year, the longtime NFL defensive guru Monte Kiffin.
Kiffin told him to go.
“Monte told me I’d be a fool to stay,” Berry said.
Although calling a player a “fool” for staying in college might be a bit much, Kiffin was certainly correct in assessing that Berry is ready to play at the next level. Berry is a near lock to be a Top 10 pick (we’ve got him going fourth overall in our mock draft), and he also has family reasons to make money now, with a father who needs heart surgery.
“I’d really just like him to sit down and enjoy life a little bit, and not have to [work two jobs]” Berry said of his father. “So I just entered the draft to make that situation better.”
