Only a handful of plays were needed to ultimately shape and define the 2013 Alabama Crimson Tide.

Two of the most memorable plays of all happened against one Crimson Tide player – Cyrus Jones.

The first came in only the second game of the season at Texas A&M. Playing his first meaningful snaps at cornerback after an injury forced him into the lineup, Jones was matched up against the Aggies’ Mike Evans when the 6-foot-5 wideout burned the entire Alabama secondary for a crucial 95-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Jones was stiff-armed and whiffed on an attempted tackle from behind.

The second was in the regular-season finale at Auburn. Only 31 seconds before Auburn’s last-second game-winner, quarterback Nick Marshall found a wide-open Sammie Coates for the game-tying 39-yard touchdown pass.

Jones was the player matched up with Coates on the play but committed to the run when it appeared Marshall was going to take off downfield.

Alabama barely escaped the former game but didn’t on the latter. Either one of those plays could’ve broken the spirit of the first-year cornerback, who moved over to the position after playing wide receiver as a freshman, but it didn’t.

As it turns out, it may have helped mold him into a better player.

Now a junior, Jones was one of the few bright spots on an Alabama secondary that gave up 365 yards through the air to West Virginia quarterback Clint Trickett last Saturday, earning one of three player of the week honors given to Alabama defenders by the coaching staff this week.

“I think the guy played really, really well,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said. “He was the one guy that consistently did what he was supposed to do in the secondary, and did a good job of covering. He didn't give up many plays.”

Jones made two big plays in particular – both inside the 10-yard line – to spare Alabama from surrendering eight additional points to West Virginia in a 33-23 season-opening win.

Jones' first key play came while playing tight defense on Mountaineers wide receiver Mario Alford on third-and-goal from the 3, leading to an incompletion on the game’s opening drive. The second came on second down from the five-yard line in the fourth quarter, when the 5-foot-10 Jones made a last-second swat to knock it out of 6-foot-3 receiver Kevin White’s hands.

Both passes were fade routes that would have gone for touchdowns but instead led to field goals.

“The fade (to White) was definitely my favorite play because I just felt like I knew what they were going to do,” Jones said. “We talked about it in the huddle to just be ready for it and just go out there and make a play.”

Much of that can be credited to an increase in experience.

After a “difficult” transition at first back to cornerback – a position he played in high school as a four-star athlete for Gilman School in Baltimore – last season, Jones feels more confident in his play in 2014.

“I think I’ve matured a lot as a player,” said Jones, who was in favor of the move from wide receiver after Saban approached him with the idea after his freshman season. “I just go about my preparation a lot more vigorously, and I’m just more comfortable with the playbook. I think anytime you’re comfortable with the playbook, it helps you play faster on the field because you’re not thinking as much. I think the fact that I don’t have to think about it as much is definitely helping me.”

And with Eddie Jackson seemingly set to return from his ACL tear in the spring this Saturday against Florida Atlantic after practicing with the first team all this week, that job should only get a little bit easier.

“Confidence is definitely a big thing at corner because you’re out there (by yourself), it seems like you’re so far from everybody else,” Jones said. “You’re out there in the spotlight against some of the best receivers in the country. I think definitely once you get plays made on you, you have to have the confidence to come back and say, ‘OK, I’m going to get him next time,’ and just keep fighting throughout the game.”

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