Zakai Zeigler appealing ruling in NCAA eligibility case
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Zakai Zeigler is not ready to call it quits just yet, even after a court has denied his preliminary injunction in pursuit of another year of eligibility.
After joining Tennessee as a member of the 2021 recruiting class, Zeigler launched an impressive 4-year career with the Vols. He went on to start 83 games across those 4 seasons, including 82 starts (103 total appearances) across his final 3 seasons in school.
Zeigler went on to become the program’s all-time leader in assists (747) and steals (251) during his career, but he was not ready to hang up his time in Knoxville just yet. Despite playing in 4 seasons, Zeigler sought an extra year of eligibility after a season-ending knee injury cut his 2022-23 season short.
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Unfortunately, the initial ruling from a Tennessee court denied Zeigler’s preliminary injunction of the NCAA’s redshirt rule. Instead of focusing on non-DI seasons, Zeigler challenged the rule that allows athletes to have 4 full-length seasons in a 5-year window. Part of Zeigler’s argument centered around many athletes playing 5 full seasons recently due to COVID waivers.
Now, Zeigler is fighting back with news that he is filing an appeal of the Tennessee court’s ruling to the Sixth Circuit, according to Sam C. Ehrlich.
We’ll see how that appeal works out for Zeigler, but, for now, he’s ineligible for the 2025-26 season.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
