HOOVER, Ala. — It’s not Alabama’s flashiest position battle, but the punter position will be worth watching this fall. After serving as the Crimson Tide’s punter for the past four years, James Burnip moved on to the NFL this season. That means the Tide will need a new player to help it flip the field on special teams.

Alabama signed one of the top-rated punters in this year’s class, bringing in Alex Asparuhov, who was rated No. 3 nationally, according to Kohl’s Kicking. However, the Fresno, California native was unable to participate in the Tide’s spring camp as continues to recover from a knee injury.

During an appearance at the Regions Tradition pro-am on Wednesday, Kalen DeBoer provided an update on Asparuhov, stating he expects the freshman to return to the fold by the fall.

“He’s really coming along. He’s an athlete. He’s a strong kid. It seems like his recovery process is going well, so we expect him to be cleared and be a part of the competition.”

Along with Asparuhov, Alabama added Colorado Mines transfer punter Blake Doud over the winter. Doud earned Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Special Teams Player of the Year honors last season, leading NCAA Division II with 46.6 yards per punt. The Parker Colorado, native had 13 punts of 50 or more yards this season and pinned his opponents inside the 20 on 19 occasions. Alabama’s roster also includes sophomore walk-on Anderson Green.

“From our standpoint, we wanted to make sure that we had a couple different options,” DeBoer said. “Just [Asparuhov] not having the level of training, the level of work that he’d have if he was healthy all through the spring and summer, that was something that we just wanted to make sure we guarded against.”

Alabama will have the next couple of weeks off before returning to the field for summer workouts at the end of the month. From there, the Tide will open its preseason camp in early August ahead of its season-opener at Florida State on Aug. 30.