BAMANEWSBOT
Staff
From seventh grade to now, Biff Poggi has gotten to know Cyrus Jones well. So you'll have to pardon the long-time coach at Gilman High School in Baltimore if he wants to brag on his former player in ways youāre not accustomed to.
āHeās a very sweet kid,ā Poggi said. āHeās a sensitive kid.ā
Never mind that Jones once ran a 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds and leapt 33 inches from a standstill position. Forget the fact that he was once ESPNās No. 20 overall prospect or that he fielded offers from dozens of Division I universities.
Jones played quarterback, running back, wide receiver, cornerback and safety for Poggi. He even punted, kicked off and served as the teamās leading return specialist. But Poggi thinks of Jones in different terms.
āHeās a kid with empathy,ā he said. āHe has a high emotional IQ.ā
That is a build-up, of course. Poggi can talk about the kid for only so long before his voice drops ever so slightly and he begins talking about the athlete Jones grew up to be, the āfreakā with āun-be-lieveableā hand-eye coordination that ācould have eas-il-y been a Division I basketball player.ā
āHe was ridiculous,ā he said, finally abandoning the emphasis of sounding out each syllable.
But what drives him? What makes Jones so good?
It isnāt being sweet or sensitive. Itās more raw than that.
āHe does not want to fail,ā Poggi said. āAs a matter of fact, failing is just an unacceptable option for that kid.ā
Take for instance, Oct. 7, 2011. Jones was a senior with his feet planted on the 35-yard line against Calvert Hall.
āWe were losing a game we should have been winning,ā Poggi recalled. āThere were 3 minutes left to go, and he was not happy.
āThe kid we were playing punted the ball to us -- which is maybe the dumbest thing you could do.ā
But it was the best punt of the punter's life, Poggi said, and it sailed way over Jonesā head. The ball rolled all the way to the 1-yard line before Jones did the unthinkable and scooped it up.
āTime is running off the clock,ā Poggi said. āHe fields the ball after being told strictly to never field the ball inside the 10 ... and runs 99 and a half yards for a touchdown -- and I fired our special teams coach right after the game.ā
And afterward Jones had a reason why.
āIn our joy, he knew that he had to have an explanation, even though it was a touchdown because it was outside of our process,ā Poggi said. āAnd he said, āThere wasnāt enough time on the clock, our two-minute offense has struggled and our best chance for us to win as a team was the punt return.
āThatās the intellect, the competitiveness, the desire. Most kids would have said, āHey, screw it, that ballās on the half-yard line.ā Not Jones. Not Jones.ā
------
Jones could have said, āScrew itā after his sophomore season at Alabama.
His move from receiver to cornerback had not paid immediate dividends. The kid who never accepted failure had been beaten time and time again.
āI was just thinking too much,ā Jones said. āI wasnāt really all that comfortable.ā
Opposing teams noticed. In his worry not to mess up, he was picked on. The worst moment of which came against Auburn when he abandoned wideout Sammie Coates on what looked like a sure-fire run by QB Nick Marshall. Pulling up abruptly at the line of scrimmage, Marshall found a wide-open Coates, Auburn scored the game-tying TD, and Alabama lost out on a trip to the BCS National Championship.
āLast year, everything happened so fast,ā he said.
But instead of throwing in the towel, Jones stayed the course. He started paying more attention, said safety Landon Collins.
āHe got as much film as we can,ā he said.
With that came confidence.
āSometimes you donāt have your safety,ā Collins said. āYou have to have that confidence that thatās your island, thatās your spot and nobody is going to mess with you.ā
After starting five games as a sophomore, Jones hasnāt missed a start as a junior. Heās gone from 25 tackles to 44, from seven passes defended to 11, and in doing so heās become what Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban described as the teamās āmost consistent corner.ā
Without Jones anchoring the secondary, itās difficult to imagine where Alabama would be. After all, the cornerback spot opposite him has been a turnstile with Eddie Jackson, Bradley Sylve and Tony Brown all taking turns on the wheel. If Jones hadnāt been so steady, the whole unit might have cracked.
āI just matured a lot as a player, as a person,ā Jones said. āI just approached it, I think, the right way this year. I did a lot of growing up.ā
After seeing the ball sail over his head early in his career, Jones has recovered.
And this time it wasnāt by abandoning the playbook and doing it all on his own.
āInstead of panicking and all that nonsense and thinking about himself, he did what his coach asked him to do,ā Poggi said. āHe has taken the next steps forward. Heās not where he wants to be. Heās not where he should be. But heās in the natural progression of that.ā
The next step: Ohio State and the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.
ESPN's SEC BlogāContinue reading...
āHeās a very sweet kid,ā Poggi said. āHeās a sensitive kid.ā
Never mind that Jones once ran a 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds and leapt 33 inches from a standstill position. Forget the fact that he was once ESPNās No. 20 overall prospect or that he fielded offers from dozens of Division I universities.
Jones played quarterback, running back, wide receiver, cornerback and safety for Poggi. He even punted, kicked off and served as the teamās leading return specialist. But Poggi thinks of Jones in different terms.
āHeās a kid with empathy,ā he said. āHe has a high emotional IQ.ā
That is a build-up, of course. Poggi can talk about the kid for only so long before his voice drops ever so slightly and he begins talking about the athlete Jones grew up to be, the āfreakā with āun-be-lieveableā hand-eye coordination that ācould have eas-il-y been a Division I basketball player.ā
āHe was ridiculous,ā he said, finally abandoning the emphasis of sounding out each syllable.
But what drives him? What makes Jones so good?
It isnāt being sweet or sensitive. Itās more raw than that.
āHe does not want to fail,ā Poggi said. āAs a matter of fact, failing is just an unacceptable option for that kid.ā
Take for instance, Oct. 7, 2011. Jones was a senior with his feet planted on the 35-yard line against Calvert Hall.
āWe were losing a game we should have been winning,ā Poggi recalled. āThere were 3 minutes left to go, and he was not happy.
āThe kid we were playing punted the ball to us -- which is maybe the dumbest thing you could do.ā
But it was the best punt of the punter's life, Poggi said, and it sailed way over Jonesā head. The ball rolled all the way to the 1-yard line before Jones did the unthinkable and scooped it up.
āTime is running off the clock,ā Poggi said. āHe fields the ball after being told strictly to never field the ball inside the 10 ... and runs 99 and a half yards for a touchdown -- and I fired our special teams coach right after the game.ā
And afterward Jones had a reason why.
āIn our joy, he knew that he had to have an explanation, even though it was a touchdown because it was outside of our process,ā Poggi said. āAnd he said, āThere wasnāt enough time on the clock, our two-minute offense has struggled and our best chance for us to win as a team was the punt return.
āThatās the intellect, the competitiveness, the desire. Most kids would have said, āHey, screw it, that ballās on the half-yard line.ā Not Jones. Not Jones.ā
------
Jones could have said, āScrew itā after his sophomore season at Alabama.
His move from receiver to cornerback had not paid immediate dividends. The kid who never accepted failure had been beaten time and time again.
āI was just thinking too much,ā Jones said. āI wasnāt really all that comfortable.ā
Opposing teams noticed. In his worry not to mess up, he was picked on. The worst moment of which came against Auburn when he abandoned wideout Sammie Coates on what looked like a sure-fire run by QB Nick Marshall. Pulling up abruptly at the line of scrimmage, Marshall found a wide-open Coates, Auburn scored the game-tying TD, and Alabama lost out on a trip to the BCS National Championship.
āLast year, everything happened so fast,ā he said.
But instead of throwing in the towel, Jones stayed the course. He started paying more attention, said safety Landon Collins.
āHe got as much film as we can,ā he said.
With that came confidence.
āSometimes you donāt have your safety,ā Collins said. āYou have to have that confidence that thatās your island, thatās your spot and nobody is going to mess with you.ā
After starting five games as a sophomore, Jones hasnāt missed a start as a junior. Heās gone from 25 tackles to 44, from seven passes defended to 11, and in doing so heās become what Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban described as the teamās āmost consistent corner.ā
Without Jones anchoring the secondary, itās difficult to imagine where Alabama would be. After all, the cornerback spot opposite him has been a turnstile with Eddie Jackson, Bradley Sylve and Tony Brown all taking turns on the wheel. If Jones hadnāt been so steady, the whole unit might have cracked.
āI just matured a lot as a player, as a person,ā Jones said. āI just approached it, I think, the right way this year. I did a lot of growing up.ā
After seeing the ball sail over his head early in his career, Jones has recovered.
And this time it wasnāt by abandoning the playbook and doing it all on his own.
āInstead of panicking and all that nonsense and thinking about himself, he did what his coach asked him to do,ā Poggi said. āHe has taken the next steps forward. Heās not where he wants to be. Heās not where he should be. But heās in the natural progression of that.ā
The next step: Ohio State and the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.
ESPN's SEC BlogāContinue reading...
