TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Despite donning a black cast on his left hand during practice on Sunday, freshman cornerback Zabien Brown isn’t expected to miss much action for Alabama moving forward.

“He’s just slowed up here a couple days,” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said when asked about Brown following practice, “but he’ll be back fine the middle of next week for sure.”

During Sunday’s practice, Brown's cast limited him from drills where cornerbacks were required to punch. However, he did particulate with the unit during the majority of the workout.

Brown lined up at cornerback with Alabama’s first-team unit during spring camp and has continued to work across from Southern California transfer Domani Jackson during preseason camp. The five-star freshman signed with Alabama as the No. 3 cornerback and No. 25 overall player in this year’s class and has already received plenty of praise from Crimson Tide players and coaches.

“He just doesn’t feel like a freshman,” DeBoer said of Brown on Sunday. “He does not. We felt that way this spring, and he just followed that up with another big jump like you really would expect. He’s just out there, and I don’t think of him as young or anything like that. I think of him as a guy who’s just fit right into the defense.

“I’m proud of the way he just approaches it. He doesn’t take anything for granted. He works his tail off. He’s up there with Coach Mo [Maurice Linguist] non-stop. He’s just a fun guy to have around each and every day in the program. I’ve got a lot of trust in him already.”

Sunday was Alabama’s fourth of 20 preseason practices leading up to game week of the Crimson Tide’s season opener against Western Kentucky on Aug. 31. Players will have the day off Monday before returning to the field Tuesday morning.