UCF’s quarterback room has been hit by the same cruel script over and over again since 2021: a starter gets rolling, then a late-game injury flips everything upside down.
That pattern showed up again Saturday night, when Alonza Barnett III went down with a hamstring injury in the final minutes of UCF’s loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Barnett is expected to miss multiple weeks, leaving Scott Frost to lean on another backup plan.
It’s the second straight season the Knights have lost their quarterback in non-conference play. Last year, Cam Fancher - now at Michigan State - suffered a back and leg injury in UCF’s 17-14 season-opening win over Jacksonville State. That forced Frost to spend long stretches with backups, including Tayven Jackson, who handled the early load before his play tailed off in conference action.
Jackson opened with promise, throwing for 694 yards and three touchdowns. But the turnovers piled up after that. He finished with eight interceptions against seven touchdown passes, and he also dealt with a hamstring injury in UCF’s heartbreaking loss to the Houston Cougars in the annual Space Game.
The injury trouble goes back even further.
In 2021, current Cleveland Browns quarterback Dillon Gabriel suffered a season-ending clavicle fracture in the final minutes against the Louisville Cardinals. That came in UCF’s third and final non-conference game. Mikey Keene took over and responded with 1,730 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Then in 2023, John Rhys-Plumlee, the Knights’ leader that season, went down with a right leg/knee injury in the closing moments of UCF’s Week 2 win over the Boise State Broncos. Timmy McClain stepped in, but the results were rough: he went 1-4 as a starter, with his only win coming against Villanova in his first start.
The same theme keeps surfacing for UCF - injuries to the quarterback, and especially injuries in the final minutes. That has left the Knights scrambling for answers and has played a major role in the inconsistency that has followed the program.
Now Frost is back in the same spot, trying to steer another season without his starter for an extended stretch after saying the team will go as far as Barnett takes them.
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For now, though, the paperwork and the legal side of the process are standing in the way of any immediate return. Halls eligibility fight has become the latest hurdle in a career that seemed headed toward the next step, but instead has landed at a crossroads where his basketball future depends on a resolution he has not yet gotten. [Read more 🡒]
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UCFs Slow Start Exposed One Concern Fans Cant Ignore
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There were some encouraging signs elsewhere, especially with the defense holding up in the kind of favorable conditions it could build on. But the bigger concern is the same one that tends to follow a sluggish opener anywhere: how quickly the offense can settle after the personnel shuffling, particularly with the line still trying to find its footing and the EDGE group adjusting to departures that have changed the shape of the unit. [Read more 🡒]