University of Tennessee Athletics
Berry Selected AFCA All-America
December 05, 2008 | Football
Dec. 5, 2008
Tennessee record-setting sophomore Eric Berry has been named to the American Football Coaches Association All-America team for 2008. Tied for the national lead in interceptions with seven, Berry was the youngest member the AFCA's defensive unit and one of just four sophomores named overall.
The Fairburn, Ga., native in less than two seasons has broken interception return yardage records that had been on the books for a combined 187 years. He now owns records for a UT season (previously stood for 37 years), UT career (39 years), SEC season (52 years) and SEC career (59 years).
Berry's combination of strength and skill helped him finish with seven interceptions for 265 return yards, while adding 72 tackles to finish third on the Tennessee team and 18th among SEC leaders.
For his career in just 25 games, Berry owns 12 interceptions for 487 return yards and three touchdowns. Berry enters next season just 14 yards shy of the major college career record of 501 interception return yards set by Florida State's Terrell Buckley from 1989-91.
Other sophomores named to the AFCA team were Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno and wide receivers Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech and Dez Bryant of Oklahoma State. No sophomores were named to the defensive or special teams units, and no freshmen at all were selected for this year's squad.
| 2008 AFCA ALL-AMERICA TEAM | |||||||
| Offense | |||||||
| Pos | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | School | Coach | Hometown (High School) |
| WR | Michael Crabtree* | 6-3 | 208 | So. | Texas Tech | Mike Leach | Dallas, Texas (Carter) |
| WR | Dez Bryant | 6-2 | 215 | So. | Oklahoma St. | Mike Gundy | Lufkin, Texas (Lufkin) |
| TE | Chase Coffman | 6-6 | 255 | Sr. | Missouri | Gary Pinkel | Peculiar, Mo. (Raymore-Peculiar) |
| OL | Andre Smith | 6-4 | 330 | Jr. | Alabama | Nick Saban | Birmingham, Ala. (Huffman) |
| OL | Brandon Carter | 6-7 | 350 | Jr. | Texas Tech | Mike Leach | Longview, Texas (Spring Hill) |
| C | Antoine Caldwell | 6-3 | 305 | Sr. | Alabama | Nick Saban | Montgomery, Ala. (Lee) |
| OL | Michael Oher | 6-5 | 318 | Sr. | Mississippi | Houston Nutt | Memphis, Tenn. (Briarcrest Christian) |
| OL | Andy Levitre | 6-3 | 317 | Sr. | Oregon St. | Mike Riley | Ben Lomond, Calif. (San Lorenzo Valley) |
| QB | Graham Harrell | 6-3 | 205 | Sr. | Texas Tech | Mike Leach | Ennis, Texas (Ennis) |
| RB | Knowshon Moreno | 5-11 | 208 | So. | Georgia | Mark Richt | Belford, N.J. (Middletown South) |
| RB | Shonn Greene | 5-11 | 235 | Jr. | Iowa | Kirk Ferentz | Sicklerville, N.J. (Milford Acad. [Conn.]) |
| Defense | |||||||
| Pos | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | School | Coach | Hometown (High School) |
| DL | Brian Orakpo | 6-4 | 260 | Sr. | Texas | Mack Brown | Houston, Texas (Lamar) |
| DL | Terrence Cody | 6-5 | 365 | Jr. | Alabama | Nick Saban | Fort Myers, Fla. (Riverdale) |
| DL | George Selvie* | 6-4 | 242 | Jr. | South Florida | Jim Leavitt | Pensacola, Fla. (Pine Forest) |
| DL | Michael Johnson | 6-7 | 260 | Sr. | Georgia Tech | Paul Johnson | Selma, Ala. (Dallas County) |
| LB | James Laurinaitis* | 6-3 | 240 | Sr. | Ohio St. | Jim Tressel | Hamel, Minn. (Wayzata) |
| LB | Rey Maualuga | 6-2 | 260 | Sr. | USC | Pete Carroll | Eureka, Calif. (Eureka) |
| LB | Brandon Spikes | 6-3 | 245 | Jr. | Florida | Urban Meyer | Shelby, N.C. (Crest) |
| DB | Eric Berry | 5-11 | 195 | So. | Tennessee | Phil Fulmer | Fairburn, Ga. (Creekside) |
| DB | Rashad Johnson | 6-0 | 186 | Sr. | Alabama | Nick Saban | Sulligent, Ala. (Sulligent) |
| DB | Malcolm Jenkins | 6-1 | 202 | Sr. | Ohio St. | Jim Tressel | Piscataway, N.J. (Piscataway) |
| DB | Alphonso Smith | 5-9 | 190 | Sr. | Wake Forest | Jim Grobe | Pahokee, Fla. (Pahokee) |
| Specialists | |||||||
| Pos | Name | Ht. | Wt. | Cl. | School | Coach | Hometown (High School) |
| P | Kevin Huber | 6-1 | 220 | Sr. | Cincinnati | Brian Kelly | Cincinnati, Ohio (McNicholas) |
| PK | Louie Sakoda | 5-9 | 178 | Sr. | Utah | Kyle Whittingham | San Jose, Calif. (Branham) |
| AP | Percy Harvin | 5-11 | 195 | Jr. | Florida | Urban Meyer | Virginia Beach, Va. (Landstown) |
* 2007 All-American.
