For Darryl Brown, few football players stand out like Alonza Barnett III, a talent brimming with the tools for success.
Brown witnessed Barnett’s skill firsthand while serving as his coach at Grimsley High School in Greensboro, N.C. The pair would help to lead the Whirlies to the NCHSAA Class 4A state championship in 2020, with Barnett earning MVP honors along the way.
Even five years later, the admiration for his former player can be heard in Brown’s voice.
“He’s a winner and one of the nicest, most polite young men you’ll ever meet,” Brown recently told the Sentinel. “When you put him on the field between those lines and he shuts that helmet up and it’s time to go, he’s gonna do whatever it takes to beat you. He’s the ultimate competitor.”
Barnett is bringing that competitive nature with him after signing with UCF after four seasons at James Madison. The redshirt senior quarterback is the crown jewel of the Knights’ 2026 transfer class, bringing with him the hope of improvement from a frustrating 5-7 season in 2025.
Dave Riggert has had a watchful eye on Barnett. Riggert is the radio voice of James Madison athletics and has seen the overall growth from the 22-year-old.
“The one thing that probably stood out over the course of his four years at JMU was he’s really matured into a pretty impressive young man,” said Riggert.
Riggert recalled that after Barnett redshirted his freshman season, he won the starting job out of fall camp the following season, but after struggling in the opener against Bucknell, then-coach Curt Cignetti replaced him with former USF quarterback Jordan McCloud.
“He did not handle it very well; nothing publicly like he was a bad teammate. Just internally, just with him, probably not practicing as hard as he wanted to, not watching as much film as he wanted to. He admitted it to me, so it’s fair to say he wasn’t mature enough to handle it.
“That made him grow up a ton and made him kind of become the player he’s become.”
Barnett won back the starting job at the start of the 2024 season, completing 60% of his passes for 2,598 yards with 26 touchdowns and 4 interceptions while earning a spot as an honorable mention on the All-Sun Belt Conference team.
But on the final snap of the regular-season finale against Marshall, Barnett tore his ACL in his right knee, forcing him to miss JMU’s appearance in the Boca Raton Bowl. He missed offseason workouts, spring camp and summer while rehabbing the injury.
In the meantime, coach Bob Chesney and the Dukes signed two veteran quarterbacks: Matthew Sluka (UNLV) and Camden Coleman (Richmond), preparing for the possibility that Barnett wouldn’t be available.
“Coach Chesney told me at one point that they went to Alonza during that whole process and said, ‘Hey, we’re bringing a couple of guys,’ and he welcomed it,” said Riggert. “He welcomed the competition.”
To everyone’s surprise, Barnett returned and won back the starting job for a third time.
“I’ve been around college athletics for about 20 years now and he’s one of the most focused guys that I’ve seen,” Riggert said of Barnett’s comeback. “It speaks volumes to the type of kid that he is, his work ethic, what he demands of himself and just what he thinks he can be.”
Barnett led JMU to an 11-1 regular season that was capped by winning the Sun Belt Conference championship with a 31-14 win over Troy. The win propelled the Dukes into the College Football Playoff, where they lost 51-34 at Oregon in a first-round matchup.
The redshirt junior was named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year after combining for 3,395 total yards and 38 total touchdowns.
“He could have sat out this year, but he fought to get back and play with his team and led them to a championship and player-of-the-year honors,” said Brown. “He graduated in December and now he’s going to take that grad transfer and play another year. He’s a guy that’s done it the right way.”
It’s a misnomer that the 5-foot-11, 216-pound Barnett is your typical dual-threat quarterback, at least according to Brown and Riggert.
“He uses his legs, but I don’t think that’s his strength,” said Riggert. “He’s more of a pocket-style quarterback who can use his legs. His arm talent is off the charts. The ball comes out of his hand differently than anybody I’ve ever seen. He can make every throw in the book. There is no doubt, and that’s what he wants to do.”
“He’ll do whatever it takes,” added Brown. “He’s good in the pocket. He’s very accurate and understands defenses extremely well. When he’s asked to run the football, he’s a powerful, physical runner. What people may be surprised by is his breakaway speed.”
Barnett has completed 58.8% of his passes throughout his college career for 5,433 yards with 49 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. His interception-to-pass ratio (2.2) was one of the best in the country last season, behind just Hawaii’s Micah Alejado (2.1) and Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia (2.1).
He’s rushed for 1,031 yards combined over the past two seasons, with 22 total touchdowns, while averaging nearly 4 yards per carry.
“They [JMU] have pushed him into being more of a runner the last couple of years,” said Riggert. “He’s led the Dukes in rushing touchdowns the last two years. When the offense got going, he started running the ball a bit and getting out of the pocket. So it’s not something that, again, he necessarily wants to do, but I think that’s the way the offense works best when he has his legs.”
With Chesney leaving to become the head coach at UCLA, it wasn’t shocking that Barnett would want to leave for his next challenge.
“UCF should be very, very happy to have him,” said Riggert. “He’s going to do great things. It didn’t surprise me that he left and I’m sad personally, but I’m happy and excited to watch him in the future.”
Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.
