Zakai Zeigler challenges NCAA's new 5-season model in court fight over eligibility

Lawyers for former Tennessee basketball player Zakai Zeigler filed an amended lawsuit Tuesday using the NCAA’s recent sweeping changes to its eligibility rules to bolster their case challenging the association’s previous policy of limiting athletes to four seasons in five years.

The amended lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for Tennessee’s Eastern District cites the new age-based eligibility rules adopted in June as “compelling evidence” that the NCAA had “substantially less restrictive alternatives” available.

“In adopting it, the NCAA abandoned the very restraints it long maintained were essential, replacing them with a five-year competition model it had previously opposed,” according to the amended lawsuit, which was first reported by Knox News.

The NCAA did not immediately respond to a message from The Associated Press on Tuesday night.

In July, the NCAA’s Division I Board of Directors backed the new rules despite numerous eligibility lawsuits across the country. Lawyers for the NCAA are seeking to consolidate eligibility lawsuits, including Zeigler’s, in Tennessee’s Middle District, where other lawsuits are pending.

For years, the NCAA allowed athletes five years to complete four years of competition. It now will allow five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with an athlete’s full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first.

Zeigler dropped his bid for a fifth season of basketball on July 1, 2025.

His lawsuit continued, and this amended filing notes Zeigler was part of the 2021 class entering college, which was the first in the era of name, image and likeness payments to be limited to four years. NCAA athletes who started from 2016 through 2020 got an extra year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Playing a fifth season would’ve allowed Zeigler to earn much more than his “current earning potential,” according to the lawsuit. Zeigler was not selected during the 2025 NBA draft. He played in France last season and is preparing to play in Germany this season.

The amended filing notes the Spyre Sports Group collective associated with the University of Tennessee valued Zeigler’s NIL range from $2 million to $4 million for a fifth season. The lawsuit asks for triple that amount in damages, which could be potentially as much as $12 million.

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