Alabama football has one very obvious position battle. Ty Simpson remains the clubhouse leader in the one most folks are watching closely, but that doesn’t mean the Crimson Tide doesn’t have other spots to fill.

One such position is punter. James Burnip is out of eligibility, recently signing with the NFL’s New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent.

Burnip was excellent throughout his time in Tuscaloosa. The most obvious candidate to replace him is Alex Asparuhov, who joined Alabama in the 2025 recruiting class.

However, Asparuhov missed all of spring practice with a knee injury from high school. Speaking Wednesday ahead of the Regions Tradition pro-am in Birmingham, Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer said his recovery is going well.’

“He’s really coming along,” DeBoer said. “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.”

While Alabama also has walk-on sophomore Anderson Green, a Northridge product, on the roster, Asparuhov’s main competition will likely be Blake Doud. A redshirt senior, Doud transferred in from Colorado School of Mines this offseason.

DeBoer said having multiple punters on the roster was in part to protect the team with Asparuhov still working his way back.

​​“Alex will be cleared. That’s the expectation there,” DeBoer said.. “From our standpoint, we wanted to make sure that we had a couple of different options. Just him not having the level of training, the level of work that he’d have if he were healthy all through the spring and summer, that was something that we just wanted to make sure we guarded against.”

Asparuhov was the No. 3 punter in the 2025 class according to Kohl’s rankings, which had him as a five-star, to go along with his two-star 247Sports composite rating. After playing his high school football in California, he chose the Tide over a plethora of offers, including Oklahoma and Florida.

Meanwhile, Doud could present a stiff challenge to the youngster. He was the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s special teams player of the year last season.

Doud averaged 46.6 yards per punt last season, leading all Division II punters. He was named a DII All-American after the season.

Alabama will continue its competition when preseason camp begins, early in August. The Crimson Tide will open the 2025 season on Aug. 30, when it faces Florida State on the road.