Scott Frost Provides Update On Alonza Barnett III

The UCF Knights are two weeks into spring practice, yet the public has not seen their highest-profile addition of the offseason.

Following the program's first spring practice on March 31, coach Scott Frost said quarterback Alonza Barnett III was "dealing with a couple little things" and that he did not want to push him out of caution. However, two weeks later, at least during the early periods of practice viewable to the media, Barnett has remained absent.

"He's doing a lot of rehabbing right now," Frost said. "He's throwing some, kind of on his own, mostly working with the trainers and then getting involved in meetings and on the field, kind of taking reps. He's getting a lot closer, and we're kind of being really cautious with him to make sure that he's 100% ready to go before we put him out there."

While Frost declined to go into specifics about what caused Barnett not to participate in practice, he said it was "nothing major" and that he was not concerned.

Barnett is no stranger to injury. His run to the College Football Playoff with James Madison in 2025 came on the heels of his recovery from an ACL tear he sustained in the final game of the 2024 season. Despite that, he still completed 58.4% of his passes for 2,806 yards and 23 touchdowns, plus ran 127 times for 589 yards and 15 touchdowns, en route to getting named Sun Belt Player of the Year.

"We just wanted to put him in a position to have the best chance to be healthy this year and beyond for the rest of his career, and so we're taking it slow," Frost said.

However, just because Barnett is taking things slow does not necessarily mean he is sitting out for all of spring practice.

"I hope that next week he's able to do some things, and then hopefully that keeps progressing through spring," Frost said.

In the meantime, the rest of the Knights' quarterbacks, senior Keyone Jenkins, sophomore Kaleb Annett and freshmen Rocco Marriott and Dante Carr, have gotten opportunities. Frost said he could see "a difference with lights" with Jenkins, Annet was "doing a good job," and the freshmen were "getting better every day."

As for the rest of the offense, even if they have not run plays with their starting quarterback yet, they are still practicing the system that he is going to use once he does return to the field.

"I mean, he's going to have a lot of guys that have already been in part of the offense that'll know what they're doing," Frost said. "The pieces around him should be a lot more established once he's ready to go, and that's going to happen really soon. He, you know, he's also been doing a great job keeping up with everything we're putting in and doing and taking reps, even though he's not in there."

"So, again, I don't think it's altogether a bad thing, and I think he'll hit the ground running."

The Knights still have two more weeks of spring practice, culminating in an open practice on May 2 in the Acrisure Bounce House at 10 a.m. on May 2.