The full-circle moment that made UCF home for Alonza Barnett III

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Alonza Barnett III recalls his whereabouts on Jan. 1, 2018.

The 14-year old was one year away from starting his high school career, captivated by the crafty play of a 5’11” quarterback donning a metallic gold helmet and crisp white jersey. That quarterback was McKenzie Milton, who on that New Year’s Day afternoon guided the UCF Knights to a perfect 13-0 season in an iconic 34-27 upset over Auburn.

Three-and-a-half years later, Milton and the 8th-grade quarterback inspired by that performance would share the same field.

In June 2021, Barnett — a soon-to-be high school senior — attended the Sunshine Showcase in Tallahassee, while holding scholarship offers from Old Dominion, Georgia State, Army, and Charlotte. The Sunshine Showcase was a one-time megacamp hosted by Florida State, bringing in over 1,000 high school football players with dozens of college coaches and scouts in attendance, in an effort to spotlight athletes who were underrecruited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Milton, who just completed a transfer from UCF to Florida State, was also in attendance.

“I actually shook his hand and told him I was a big fan of him and loved watching him play at UCF and couldn’t wait to see what he did at FSU,” Barnett said. “I didn’t take a picture. I wish I would have now, but just having that full circle moment was surreal.”

McKenzie Milton is now Alonza Barnett’s quarterback coach at UCF. What was once an athlete Barnett wanted to emulate on the field has turned into his mentor, in more ways than one.

“He’s been a tremendous guidance, not only as a coach but in life as well,” Barnett said. “He shows what it means to be a leader, own your own lane, and really have a life that is pleasing to Christ.”

When Scott Frost — who left UCF after that Peach Bowl — returned as the program’s head coach in December 2024, he brought Milton back with him to serve as quarterbacks coach. Milton’s role on staff played a part, but there were other factors that drove Barnett to transferring from James Madison to UCF this offseason.

“I loved the area, I loved the people, and schematically, they run what I want to run,” said Barnett, who did extensive research on UCF’s pro-style offense prior to committing. “I think that really made it easy. They were on me from the jump when the portal opened up. They were my first visit for a reason, and me going on a visit really confirmed what I was feeling.”

UCF was adamant about landing an established quarterback in the portal, and Barnett fulfills that need. The Knights have struggled to acclimate to the Big 12 with three-straight losing seasons for the first time since joining the FBS in 1996. Many of the struggles can be traced to quarterback instability as UCF has trotted out six different starters in two years.

“We’re excited to have a guy,” Frost said. “We went into last season with a three-horse race at quarterback. It’s gonna be nice and refreshing to have a guy that everybody looks to and knows that he’s the guy. Alonza’s played in a lot of football games, won a lot of football games. He’s a competitor, a guy that I’ve been really impressed with his presence on the field and in the huddle. He’s in charge, and I think the guys can see that. He’s the clear leader on offense right now like (outside linebacker) Lewis Carter is the clear leader on defense for us. We didn’t really have that a year ago either.”

Barnett hasn’t fielded his first snap in black and gold yet, but his teammates already noticed a different energy at practices with an experienced, clear-cut starter at quarterback.

“Nothing to discredit our guys last year — great players, great humans, and they went on and did their own thing,” offensive tackle Preston Cushman said. “But Alonza’s such a smart and great player. He’s gonna put us in the right position every play and have firm feet as an offense. We know whatever he says, he’s on the right track, and really whatever he wants goes — whatever protection he calls. We know he’s dialed in on every single level and it makes it so much easier for us to be confident in what we do every single snap.”

Barnett has 27 games of starting experience under his belt, and he won 21 of them. The Greensboro, NC native is the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year, and last season at James Madison, he led the Dukes to their first conference championship at the FBS level and disrupted the status quo in the process. With Barnett as the offensive centerpiece, James Madison became the first Sun Belt team to secure a College Football Playoff berth.

Eight years prior, Milton thrived in similar underdog status at the Peach Bowl, quarterbacking a UCF team that was often overlooked in the rankings due to its affiliation with the American Conference. Barnett believes his résumé as a disruptive underdog makes him a perfect fit for a UCF program that famously embraced that same identity throughout the 2010s.

“I see a lot of striking similarities with James Madison and UCF,” Barnett said. “With UCF transitioning from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12, I think that’s a jump you’ll see James Madison make in the future. I feel like it’s a perfect fit. It’s the same underdog mentality and the chip on the shoulder, but really with the expectation of winning and the thrill of wanting to win.”

There is one difference between the underdog stories. While both teams had plenty dissenters on the national stage, UCF was victorious over Auburn, while James Madison fell in 51-34 fashion to a heavily favored Oregon team. Despite the loss, Barnett captained the Dukes to 509 yards of offense and 34 points, when no other Oregon opponent exceeded 382 yards or 30 points up until that point. With more eyes than ever directed toward him, the former JMU quarterback accumulated 273 passing yards, 45 rushing yards, and three total touchdowns without committing a single turnover.

“None of us went into that game scared,” Barnett said. “We all saw it as an opportunity to prove ourselves on that stage. For me, it was a dream come true. I wanted to prove I could go out there and play at a high level, and now I have my opportunity and chance to do that.”

Even when the odds are stacked against him, ‘fear’ is not a word in Barnett’s lexicon. The 5’11” quarterback likens his persona to that of former Philadelphia 76ers MVP Allen Iverson — an unfazed, undersized athlete shrouded in confidence.

“(Iverson) walks around with a different type of moxie,” Barnett said. “He’s really confident and who he is as a player, but as a person equally. I think I have a little bit of swag. I don’t like to wear the same stuff every week. Like, I’m gonna have a bunch of different cleats this season. There’s a swag and confidence about myself. I like to dance and have fun.”

According to Barnett, the way you spell ‘fun’ is ‘w-i-n.’ Winning was the norm at James Madison during the quarterback’s four-year tenure as the Dukes won 40 of 51 possible contests. As UCF seeks its first winning season since its American Conference days in 2022, Barnett aims to instill cultural elements from his previous stop, hoping to replicate the success of the McKenzie Milton era in Orlando.

“You have to be able to be poised,” Barnett said. “Not every win is gonna be a big win. We had ugly wins like at Georgia State. We had tough comeback wins like against Washington State. Just being stoic and really being task-focused throughout the season — not riding the roller coaster of the highs and the lows — but really trying to focus on winning, whether you win by 1 or win by 100, you give yourself a chance to be in the playoff like we did.”

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