Tennessee Volunteers guard Zakai Zeigler (5) shoots the ball against the Houston Cougars during the first half of a game Sunday, March 30, 2025, during the Elite Eight round of the NCAA March Madness tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Houston defeated Tennessee 69-50. Christine Tannous/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Should Zakai Zeigler Be Granted his 5th Year of Eligibility with Tennessee Basketball?

Originally posted on Tennessee Volunteers on SI
By Caleb Sisk | Last updated May 28, 2025 1:22 PM ET

Should Tennessee Volunteers basketball star Zakai Zeigler be granted a 5th year of eligibility, or is it time to put a stop to all of this? Vols On SI takes a deep dive into the situation.

The Tennessee Volunteers recently were back in the news, as their star player, Zakai Zeigler, who was a Senior this past season, requested a 5th year of eligibility. Zeigler was not a red-shirt and has played four seasons with the Vols, with none of his seasons going under the number of games to allow a red-shirt.

Zeigler was a rotational player who would sub into the game early on in his freshman season, as he played behind current G-League guard Kennedy Chandler. Since then, Zeigler has been a starter for three seasons. In one of the seasons as a starter, Zeigler would suffer a season-ending injury to his knee, where he would tear his ACL, just games before the tournament.

This injury was devastating, however, many believe the 5-foot-9 point guard came back and played the best basketball of his career after a successful rehab. Zeigler would go on to make Tennessee and SEC history in assists and double-doubles for points and assists, as he made his mark in Knoxville as arguably the best Tennessee Volunteer hoop star of all-time and undoubtedly at the minimum the best guard in Tennessee history.

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The Vols star is hopeful to have one more year as he has filed to sue the NCAA for another season of eligibility. This has been an ongoing trend for players across the nation. While some have been denied, others have been granted an extra season. However, one thing that doesn't go Zeigler's way is the fact that he never played at a lower level, and played at a high level throughout his full career.

While many want to throw up the Diego Pavia situation, they are completely different, as he played JUCO. But even with it being different, the overall point that has to be made is either that no one should be granted a 5th season (outside of a red-shirt or medical red-shirt), or everyone should be granted a 5th year. This could very well be a sloppy look if another Tennessee player is denied a 5th year like Alberto Osuna was for the baseball team.

It has come to a point that fans want to see an even playing field instead of biased actions taken. While that could be the case for this situation, no signs have pointed to either direction at this point.

This article first appeared on Tennessee Volunteers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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