thedailytimes.com : Your 24/7 news source

KNOXVILLE -- Lane Kiffin still remembers the first team meeting, the one that came on the heels of the emotional dismissal of veteran coach Phillip Fulmer.

Now 10 games through his first season as Tennessee's coach, Kiffin still remembers the example set from the outset by All-America safety Eric Berry.

"He's very unique because of the fact that here's a great player -- a player who was playing great in the last system. Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and here comes a new system and new coaches," Kiffin recalled following Wednesday's practice.

"It could have been very easy to sit back and say, 'You know what, let me see before I buy in.' From the first day we were here, he was on the edge of his seat in the meeting room and being a great example for other players. So I can't imagine a guy being a better leader than he has."

Berry insists he doesn't yet wish to imagine anything beyond the Vols' final two games. But with virtually every major NFL Draft projection including the junior from Fairburn, Ga., among its top five or 10, it's hard not to think Berry will make his final appearance tonight inside Neyland Stadium when the Vols host Vanderbilt at 7 (ESPNU).

"Right now I'm just trying to focus on everything I can do to get this last win at home," said Berry, who has notched two interceptions and 70 tackles this season. "No telling what, if it might be my last or if it's not. Just want to take everything in and try to appreciate these last games of this season.

"I just cherish all the friendships and this whole coaching staff. I really feel like this group of players at UT have laid the foundation for the greatness we do have to come at Tennessee."

Berry, one of the Vols' four team captains, could elect today to take a final run through the 'T' by himself as is customary for Tennessee's seniors appearing in their final home game. Yet Kiffin believes the example Berry sets is that of an everyman who much prefers blending in with his teammates.

"Yeah, I would have no issues with that (Berry through the 'T')," Kiffin said. "I doubt he would want that. He actually always wants to be with us. Even the last game. I didn't even know it until the last second, (but) he didn't go out for the coin toss because he wanted to come out with the guys. We've been able to talk to the refs at home the last couple of weeks and they've actually let us push back the coin toss about a minute. So that the guys could be in there and come out with us."

Though neither his twin brothers, Evan and Elliott, nor his father, former UT captain James Berry, will be able to attend Saturday's contest, Berry will have several family members in town for the Vols' 2009 home clincher.

He acknowledges it would be nice to eclipse the NCAA record for career interception return yardage -- he's just 8 yards short after 13 career interceptions have resulted in 495 yards -- but isn't concerning himself with the benchmark.

"That would be nice to get that. But that is God's will. If God wants me to break that record then I will break it," said the 5-foot-11, 205-pounder. "All I can do is go out there and give it everything that I have got and make sure I am ready to play. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't then we move on to next week."