When he sees a safety in front of him poised to bring him down, Hurricanes tailback Damien Berry prepares for a violent collision.
"My first reaction is to just go ahead and pound it, run him over, not really shake and do all that stuff and waste time,"
Berry said. "Why waste time if you can just run him over?"
That bruising style has worked for the 6-foot, 215-pound senior, who has rushed 112 times for 539 yards and three touchdowns. His 89.9 yards per game rank third in the ACC entering Saturday's game against North Carolina.
With 111 yards on 25 carries last Saturday at Duke, Berry became the fifth player in UM history to rush for 100 or more yards in three consecutive games – Willis McGahee, Edgerrin James, Frank Gore and Clinton Portis are the others.
Berry, who had 94 yards at Ohio State, nearly became just the eighth 100-yard rusher against the Buckeyes since 2005. It would have broken a streak of 24 games without a 100-yard effort allowed by OSU.
"I remember even two years ago I used to love watching Damien run because he's such a physical running back,"
left tackle Orlando Franklin said. "If he's one-on-one on a safety I tell Damien all the time…'you run through, run straight.' It's always exciting to see a running back run over a corner or safety. It gets the offensive line more hyped."
Despite the first two fumbles of his career during in the past two games, Berry has been the one consistent component on offense for the 'Canes this season.
"The offensive line has been doing a great job of keeping low pad level and pushing guys back,"
Berry said.
Their style suits Berry, who figured he'd spend his UM career doling out hits on defense.
He was a safety as a freshman, but Coach Randy Shannon thought he was better suited for running back, which he played in high school. Berry didn't have any carries as a sophomore, but was the team's second-leading rusher last season with 93 carries for 616 yards and eight touchdowns.
This season, he's on pace to become the seventh 1,000-yard rusher in UM history and the first since McGahee racked up a school-record 1,753 in 2002. Expect Berry to get plenty of chances – he's had 106 carries the past five games.
"He's a hard runner,"
offensive lineman Brandon Linder said. "You saw in Duke, he broke about 10 tackles."
