Evan Lawrence Berry (born November 4, 1995) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

Tennessee Volunteers football The Tennessee Volunteers football program (variously called "Tennessee", "Vols", "UT", or "Big Orange") represents the University of Tennessee (UT). The Vols have played football for 130 seasons, starting in 1891; their combined record of 862� ...

team. While primarily a safety, he was selected to

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

team as a return specialist in 2015. He is the younger brother of former Tennessee Volunteers and former NFL safety

Eric Berry James Eric Berry (born December 29, 1988) is an American former football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, where he was a two-time unanimous All-American and recog ...

, and his twin brother, Elliott, also played at Tennessee.

College career

Berry attended and played college football at the University of Tennessee from 2014–2017 under head coach

Butch Jones Lyle Allen "Butch" Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State University. Jones previously served as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at the Univ ...

. In his freshman year in 2014, Berry split kickoff return duties with Devrin Young while

Cameron Sutton Cameron Amir Sutton (born February 27, 1995) is an American football cornerback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round o ...

and Jacob Carter dealt with the punt returning duties. He averaged 29.5 yards per return on 14 attempts on the season. Berry's sophomore season in 2015 was very productive. He handled most of the kick return duties on the season while Sutton and

Alvin Kamara Alvin Mentian Kamara (born July 25, 1995) is an American football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee after transferring from Hutchinson Community College and wa ...

handled punt returns. In the season opener against

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

, he had a 67-yard kickoff return. Two weeks later, against

Western Carolina Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU was founded t ...

, he had an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. On October 3, against

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

, he returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. On October 31, against

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, he had a 100-yard kickoff return for his third of the season. In the Outback Bowl, against Northwestern, he had a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown to end the 45–6 victory for the Volunteers. Overall, on the season, he averaged an NCAA-leading 38.3 yards per kick return on 21 attempts. His 804 total kickoff return yards and three kickoff return touchdowns led the SEC in 2015. For the 2015 season, Berry earned Consensus All-American honors. In his junior season in 2016, Berry was the primary kick return until suffering a knee injury against

Tennessee Tech Tennessee Technological University, commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech, is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie ...

, which kept him out of the remainder of the season. He recorded a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. Overall, he averaged a SEC-leading 32.9 yards per kick return on 14 attempts. Berry's final season with the Volunteers was limited to only two games due to his prior injury. He totaled four kick returns for a 35.8 average. For his collegiate career, Berry finished first in NCAA and SEC history with 34.3 kickoff return yards per attempt and his four return touchdowns are tied for the most in SEC history.

Collegiate statistics

Professional career

After going undrafted in the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first draft ...

, Berry signed a free agent contract with the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

. He was waived on August 28, 2018.

References

External links

Collegiate statistics at Sports-Reference.comTennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Evan 1995 births Living people Twin sportspeople American twins People from Fairburn, Georgia Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) Sportspeople from Fulton County, Georgia American football safeties American football return specialists Tennessee Volunteers football players All-American college football players Cleveland Browns players