Evan Berry can kick-start Vols

If Tennessee wins the coin toss for its season opener, it should elect to receive.

I realize that goes against conventional coaching wisdom. UT coach Butch Jones, like most of his peers, usually would defer to the second half if his team won the toss.

A 15-minute Sunday afternoon conversation with senior Evan Berry convinced me otherwise.

It’s this simple: If you receive the opening kickoff, you have a chance of putting the ball in your best player’s hands.

Nobody on UT’s team is as good at what they do as Berry. You could say that about most of college football as well.

In 2015, as a sophomore, Berry made All-American by averaging a preposterous 38.3 yards per return, just shy of the NCAA single-season record.

With that spectacular season, Evan was no longer just the younger brother of NFL star and former Tennessee All-American defensive back Eric Berry. But his record-setting season wasn’t altogether startling. A year earlier, he returned his first college kickoff 68 yards against Chattanooga.

That wasn’t just his first college kick return.

“I never returned kicks in high school,” Berry said at UT’s football media day. “I wanted to. I thought I would be good at it.”

His coach deemed Berry too valuable as a quarterback and defensive back to risk him on kick returns.

Never mind Berry's high school history. Jones needed to see only a few returns to appreciate Berry’s talent.

“Every time he was back there, he had the natural instincts that great returners possess,” Jones said. “He has the innate ability to hit (the hole).”

Something else Jones noticed: Berry took his job seriously.

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Berry’s teammates figured that out.

“I’m not much of a talker,” said Berry, who is also a backup safety. “But I really had to establish in practice how serious it was to me.”

He did that one kickoff at a time.

Even in practice, Berry didn’t go through the motions. He finished every rep in the end zone.

His success isn’t all about practice. It’s also about his blockers whom he praises at every opportunity. And it’s about speed.

Berry ran a 10.54 100 meters in high school, where he was the 2013 Georgia Class 5A 100-meter champion. He has never been caught from behind on the football field “unless somebody had the angle,” he said.

Given his success, you can see why he wouldn't mind the Vols receiving the opening kickoff against Georgia Tech. The way last season ended makes him even more eager. He suffered a season-ending knee injury Nov. 7.

“I would love to (return the kickoff to open the season),” he said.

Then, he made his best sales pitch.

“I realize how much of a spark we are to the rest of the team as a kick-return unit,” he said. “If we can get a good return, it sets the offense up for a great chance of being successful on its first drive.”

Sounds good to me.

Reach John Adams at john.adams@knoxnews.com or 865-342-6284 and on Twitter @johnadamskns.