Eli Gold said Wednesday he is “thrilled” to be back in the booth after it was announced he will be splitting Alabama football play-by-play duties with Chris Stewart on the Crimson Tide Sports Network.

Gold, who missed all of last season due to cancer, told AL.com coming back in a part-time capacity was nothing more than precaution in an attempt to re-gain his strength.

“I’m thrilled to be back in the booth, needless to say,” Gold said by phone Wednesday. “I’m absolutely thrilled. After a good bit of consideration, I feel like I did a good job. We had good practice games and scrimmages, but I need to work on getting my strength back. The travel, I don’t know how much that will take out of me and so on, so I’m going to do the home games and the talk shows. Chris will do the road games.”

Stewart, who filled in for Gold last season, understands the magnitude of the responsibility of calling Alabama games, he said.

“First of all, I’m thankful Eli is healthy enough to return to a job that means so much to him,” Stewart told AL.com. “Second, I’m grateful to continue to be a part of this fantastic Crimson Tide Sports Network broadcast team.

“In my lifetime, only John Forney, Paul Kennedy and Eli have been the radio voices of Alabama football. It’s an incredible honor to join this list of men, for which I have so much respect. I’m blessed to have the opportunity to share the message of the Crimson Tide with such an incredible fan base.”

Former Alabama quarterback Tyler Watts will provide color commentary for both Gold at home and Stewart on the road, which was first reported by AL.com earlier this month. At that time, Gold said he and Watts would be calling scrimmages on closed-circuit broadcasts.

On Wednesday, he said it was great to be back in the booth.

“It was great medicine getting back into the swing of things and getting back into the booth and doing what I do, which is broadcasting sporting events,” Gold said of the scrimmages. “I just had to take a look at what was best for everybody and my health.”

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.