One star quarterback from the College Football Playoff has already found a new home after entering the transfer portal. As the final four teams battle for the national championship, the rest of the country is focused on the college football transfer portal.
Fresh off a career season, former James Madison quarterback Alonza Barnett entered the portal and found a new team in a matter of days. Barnett is headed to the Big 12 announcing his decision to join UCF where the dual-threat signal-caller is the early favorite to be the Knights starter. The quarterback is expected to replace Tayven Jackson.
Barnett threw for 2,806 yards, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions while completing 58.4% of his passes in 14 appearances for JMU in 2025. The quarterback also added 589 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground as well.
Beyond impressive stats, Barnett led James Madison to a Sun Belt championship as JMU crashed the College Football Playoff party. Barnett was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year in 2025.
Here’s what you need to know about the latest college football news.
New UCF QB Alonza Barnett Is Projected to Have a $321,000 NIL Value
NIL deals are not made public, but Barnett’s value is projected at $321,000, per On3. During Scott Frost’s first season in his second stint at UCF, the Knights struggled with volatility at quarterback. After transferring from Indiana, Jackson failed to provide consistent play at the position in 2025.
“Quarterback is no different than other positions,” Frost said on December 10, 2025, per On3’s Brandon Helwig. “In a perfect world, we’re developing them all in-house. We didn’t have the opportunity to do that much last year because I got here after Signing Day. So this is really our first step in trying to recruit some building blocks at several positions, quarterback certainly being one.
“If you were experiencing this every day and seeing the drama and the price tags that go along with transfer quarterbacks, it’d certainly benefit us to have a homegrown one. I love the two guys that we got. We’re going to pour into them and try to build somebody that we can keep for a while.”
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