With HBCU roots, QB Alonza Barnett III leads James Madison’s historic playoff run

James Madison quarterback Alonza Barnett III is leading the Dukes to their first College Football Playoff appearance. The first-round matchup against Oregon is the continuation of a historic season for Barnett and the program.

The Sun Belt Player of the Year, All-American and Bill Dudley Award winner is finishing this season in a dominant fashion after recovering from last year’s season-ending knee injury, making the redshirt junior‘s most accomplished college season all the more impressive.

On Dec. 5, 2024, Barnett underwent ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) surgery after a non-contact injury on the final snap of the regular season, when the Dukes lost to conference rival Marshall 35-33 in double overtime.

One year later, Barnett led James Madison to its first Sun Belt championship, in which he had a 26-yard rushing touchdown to complete an 83-yard drive, as the Dukes stretched the lead in their 31-14 win over Troy.

“A year ago, to the exact date [of] getting surgery on my knee, on the same date a year later, I’m a Sun Belt champ,” Barnett said. “So I think there’s just power in that, just, you know, speaking positivity over your life and just fighting for everything.”

The victory against Troy gave the Dukes their first Sun Belt conference title, and it extended their winning streak to 11 games — one of the crucial pieces in ensuring the Dukes’ playoff berth.

“I dreamed of this, you know. Coach Ches [Bob Chesney], a couple days after surgery, I told him, ‘I’ll be back. I’ll be back. I’ll be back,’ Barnett said after the Sun Belt championship game. “And I’m sure, when I reiterated that, you know, to him and to other people in the building, they’re like, ‘OK, yeah, this kid is crazy.’

“God’s really been faithful to me. He’s extending His mercies and graces upon my life, and I’m just blessed to be in this position.”

While Barnett’s anticipated comeback to the field was unclear for many, he made his return in late August for the season opener, when he helped lead the Dukes to a 45-10 win over Weber State at home. Throwing for 130 yards and rushing for 30 more with two touchdowns, his performance was a preview for a historic season.

“[He] just battled everyday, and he just was so committed to it, and never stopped taking care of himself and doing what everybody asked him to,” Chesney said following the Sun Belt championship game. “You know, he had his sights set on coming back to football camp and being able to play.

“I don’t think anybody else thought he could do it. I don’t think the doctors thought he could do it. I don’t think Tyler [Webb, head football athletic trainer] thought he could do it. But he thought he could do it — and not only thought he could — but prepared for it, and knew he could. And then the rest is history.”

As the program receives more national attention and the country gets better acquainted with Barnett and the football powerhouse from Harrisonburg, Virginia, it is worth noting that the quarterback’s journey started years ago in Greensboro, North Carolina, around the campus of North Carolina A&T, where he grew up playing football.

His mother, Katina, and his father, Alonza ‘Al’ Barnett II, are graduates of the historically Black university.

Al, who was recruited to A&T as a quarterback and later switched to defensive back, where he played strong safety in the 1990s, was inducted into the Aggies Hall of Fame in 2021. He also previously worked at the university as a director of planned giving. His son was a graduate of the early childhood education center and attended various camps on campus.

Sports was ever-present in the Barnett household. Barnett’s younger sister, Makenna, runs track and field at the University of Southern California. Barnett experienced college football on the sidelines as the ball boy for the Aggies’ football program when he was in middle school.

“He was around older kids and the environment, the players, and the coaching staff at A&T at that time. It was during coach Rod Broadway’s time,” the elder Barnett said of his son. “It was a phenomenal time of success and work, and he learned a whole lot.

“He got a chance to go to the Celebration Bowls, and the guys on the team accepted him like a little brother. He worked his butt off, and he had fun doing it.”

In seven seasons as the Aggies’ head coach, Roderick ‘Rod’ Broadway led the program to two Celebration Bowl titles and a 12-0 record in 2017, becoming the first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) team and HBCU Division I-AA team to be undefeated and untied.

The younger Barnett was embraced by a historic, record-setting football program and has now seen his own career take off. But he recalls those successful A&T teams with fondness.

“I mean, it’s been amazing just to be able to witness and see firsthand what a college football atmosphere is, seeing guys like Tarik Cohen, Lamar Raynard, Elijah Bell, Ron Hunt, Derek Williams…the list can go on and on, just to be able to experience a fall football camp before that even happened. Looking back on it is definitely special,” the younger Barnett told Andscape.

Barnett actually learned how to punt during this time and shares that some of his earliest memories with the Aggies include working with the specialists — from catching punts and returning kickoffs.

“As a kid, just being able to witness that, and then going down to Atlanta for the HBCU national championship [Celebration Bowl] and seeing them win that, and to hear those locker-room talks — to hear, you know, the adjustments on the sidelines. I give all the credit to my dad and my parents for exposing me to those environments and being able to see that stuff,” Barnett said.

As an undersized quarterback at 6-foot and navigating the landscape during COVID-19, the recruiting process was a journey for Barnett, a state champion from Greensboro Grimsley High School. He committed to James Madison University ahead of his senior year in 2021.

Said the elder Barnett, reflecting on his son’s recruitment: “With James Madison, I think the environment, the game day experiences, is off the charts. Then their consistency with excellence and winning is huge.

“It looked and felt like home. Obviously, their history of winning, their emphasis on winning, just the overall success and feel of the campus as a whole [and] what they had in place for the athletes to be successful. All of those things were just critically important.”

The younger Barnett joined the Duke’s football program in 2022, the team’s first year in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). He has seen the growth of the program under former head coach Curt Cignetti, now the coach at No.1 ranked Indiana, and Chesney, who will take over the program at UCLA next season.

Barnett had a breakthrough season in 2024 when he led the Dukes to a 9-4 record, helping them reach bowl eligibility and earning accolades. He was named All-Sun Belt honorable mention and Associated Press National Player of the Week (Sept. 24) when he set the James Madison single-game touchdown record, accounting for seven (five passing and two rushing) in a stunning 70-50 win over Power Four opponent North Carolina.

Through injury and adversity, Barnett continues to elevate the Dukes, leading the program to a 12-1 record this season. JMU’s only loss was to Louisville. He has 2,533 passing yards this season and is top 50 in nationally for passing efficiency percentage, passing yards per completion and yards per pass attempt.

Barnett and the Dukes’ next challenge awaits them in Eugene, Oregon, on Dec. 20, as James Madison looks to make a run as one of two Group of Five teams in the College Football Playoff. Tulane, champion of the American Athletic Conference, is the other team.

Growing up in North Carolina, Barnett said Oregon (11-1) — popular for its rotation of colorful uniforms — was a team he followed closely.

“You have to remember, just based [on] Day 1, why you started playing this game as a kid,” Barnett said. “I think if you were to ask everybody on this team, especially you know, this generation, this era, ‘Who was your favorite football team growing up?’ people would probably say Oregon.

“You know, I was one of those kids that grew up watching Oregon. So, this is an environment that you dream of playing in. And you know, if you are who you say you are, you can’t shut down when the lights are bright.”

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