Ahead of UCF’s home game against Georgia State on Saturday, Knights head coach Scott Frost said starting quarterback Alonza Barnett III is expected to be out multiple weeks with a “fairly significant” hamstring injury. Barnett III suffered the injury on the second-to-last play of the game in UCF’s loss to Pitt last Saturday.
“I feel bad for Alonza,” Frost said Monday. “I felt like he was getting more and more comfortable in our scheme. I love to see him run around and look like he was just playing football and making some throws and runs late. We brought him here for a reason, because we believed in him. And it’s sad to see something like this happen.”
In two games for the Knights, Barnett III threw for 344 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.
Keyone Jenkins, the backup for UCF, is expected to start against Georgia State. He transferred to Central Florida after three seasons at FIU. During his time with the Panthers, Jenkins accounted for 6,721 passing yards, 56 total touchdowns, and 25 interceptions. Jenkins completed all four passes for 42 yards and a touchdown in UCF’s blowout win versus Bethune-Cookman.
“We’re kind of putting together a game plan right now,” Frost said. “We’ll have a plan and we have a lot of guys that are ready to go.”
UCF will rely on the run game, led by Louisville transfer Duke Watson, Central Arkansas transfer Landen Chambers, and freshman Taevion Swint. However, against Pitt, the Knights only gained 20 rushing yards on 22 attempts.
“It isn’t like we didn’t have a lot of runs in the game plan,” Frost said. “We ran a few early and got some messy yards on some of them. We just didn’t have the chance to snap the ball very much.”
Georgia State is 2-0 after wins against North Carolina A&T and Kennesaw State. Despite the strong start and the loss of Barnett III, the Knights are still projected to beat the Panthers by 21 points.
“I think [Georgia State is] an impressive team,” Frost said. “I think they’re really well coached and disciplined. They’re going to smell blood in the water after we get beat and playing a new guy at quarterback. Our guys have to be ready and we’re going to have to play well to win.”
Kickoff against Georgia State is set for 7 p.m. on September 19.