Since 2000, Rivals has ranked football recruits in their respective classes. Now, the company is looking back at the top five-star recruits it has ever named up until now.
Tennessee football’s legendary safety Eric Berry easily made the cut. In the list of 32 former recruits, Berry landed at No. 15.
Rivals clarified the criteria for the rankings as such: “Their ranking is formulated by a combination of their prep accolades, recruiting hype, college career and their NFL Draft slot. Professional success doesn’t factor into the equation.”
Out of Creekside, Georgia, Berry was ranked as the No. 3 recruit in the country in the 2010 class before committing to the Vols.
“Berry starred at both quarterback and defensive back for Creekside, leading his team to a 37-5 record while earning Army All-American honors as a senior,” the Rivals article wrote. “He ultimately chose Tennessee over offers from nearly every major program in the country and finished as two-time unanimous All-American, was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year twice, and also took home the 2009 Jim Thorpe Award. After his college career was over, he played nine seasons in the NFL — all for the Kansas City Chiefs — and was a five-time Pro Bowler and the league’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2015 after a battle with cancer.”
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Berry played three seasons at Tennessee before entering the draft and going No. 5 overall to the Kansas City Chiefs. In this time, he racked up numerous honors. This included two First-Team All-SEC nods, one Second-Team All-SEC selection, two unanimous All-American picks and SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
In 38 games, Berry recorded 241 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, three sacks, 14 interceptions and three touchdowns.
In the NFL, Berry was named a five-time Pro Bowler, three-time First-Team All-Pro and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2015. This came after he returned to the field following being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December of 2014. He went through chemotherapy in the offseason and was declared cancer-free.
Berry was ultimately named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team. His final season was in 2018. In his pro career, he played 86 games in which he posted 365 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 14 interceptions and five touchdowns.
