TUSCALOOSA, Ala. _ A day after University of Alabama coach Nick Saban said that Eddie Jackson would be more in the mix at practice this week the sophomore cornerback was working with the first-unit defense during the observation period for reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Jackson, who sustained a knee injury that led to surgery in the spring, was on the left side (to the quarterback’s right) with junior Cyrus Jones at the other cornerback spot. The second unit featured junior Bradley Sylve behind Jones and true freshman Tony Brown behind Jackson.

“We’re going to probably start investing some reps in Eddie Jackson this week,” Saban said on Monday. “We’ll see whether we think he can play or not. He thinks he can play, thinks he’s ready to play, thinks he’s ready to go. Doc’s cleared him to go so we just … haven’t invested the reps with him with the ones and the twos. If you do that and a guy can’t play, then that’s somebody else you could have repped that didn’t get the reps that is now going to play in the game.

“We’ll decide later in the week whether we think he’s OK to go or not.”

Jackson started four games last season and was considered Alabama’s best cornerback when he sustained the injury during a spring scrimmage on a play he wasn’t involved in any contact.

Meanwhile, as expected Geno Smith was working at “star,” what Saban calls the extra defensive back in the nickel formation, and backed up by sophomore Maurice Smith on Tuesday. Senior Jarrick Williams is expected to be out approximately four weeks after having surgery to insert a screw to fix a foot fracture.

Junior strong safety Landon Collins was also limited during individual drills, but did participate in the installation of the nickel package as Alabama continued to prepare for Saturday’s home opener against Florida Atlantic (noon ET, SEC Network).

Alabama gave up 365 passing yards at the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game against West Virginia, including nine receptions for 143 yards and a 19-yard touchdown to Kevin White, most with the smaller Sylve in coverage. Crimson Tide coaches eventually switched the coverage and when West Virginia subsequently challenged Jones with a deep fade he was able to knock it away.

“I think when you’re playing corner, technique is definitely important, but there are so many times when you are in great position and you misjudge the ball sometimes or the receiver just simply makes a great catch,” Jones said. “You definitely want to put yourself in position with technique, but if he’s a great receiver and they make a great throw, there’s not much you can do a lot of the times.”

Jones was also in on seven tackles and was named one of the defense’s players of the week by the coaching staff.

“I think he played really, really well,” Saban said. “He made two big plays inside the 10-yard line. 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.”