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Tennessee guard denied preliminary injunction

Zakai Zeigler was denied a preliminary injunction in his pursuit of a fifth year of eligibility to return to Tennessee basketball after his four-year career ended. “Plaintiff has failed to present sufficient evidence that the Four-Seasons Rule produces substantial anticompetitive effects in the market for student-athlete services and NIL compensation in Division I basketball,” wrote […]

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Zakai Zeigler was denied a preliminary injunction in his pursuit of a fifth year of eligibility to return to Tennessee basketball after his four-year career ended.

“Plaintiff has failed to present sufficient evidence that the Four-Seasons Rule produces substantial anticompetitive effects in the market for student-athlete services and NIL compensation in Division I basketball,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Crytzer in her June 12 ruling. The ruling followed a hearing June 6.

“What the NCAA should do as a policy matter to benefit student athletes is beyond the reach of the Sherman Act and TTPA and by extension, this Court,” she wrote.

Zeigler filed a lawsuit on May 20 seeking to return to college basketball in the 2025-26 season, including requesting a preliminary injunction on the grounds that he will suffer irreparable harm without immediate injunctive relief as schools are currently finalizing rosters and settling NIL agreements. It claimed Zeigler could earn up to $4 million if eligible in the 2025-26 season based on an analysis from Spyre Sports Group.

“We are disappointed the Court declined to grant a preliminary injunction on the basis that the NCAA does not directly control NIL compensation, just days after the House settlement confirmed they would do exactly that,” Zeigler’s attorneys said in a statement to Knox News through a spokesperson. “This ruling is just the first chapter of what we believe will ultimately be a successful challenge. We intend to press forward and are evaluating the best path ahead for Zakai.”

Zeigler’s lawsuit attacks the NCAA’s redshirt rule, which allows a player a fifth year of eligibility as long as the player sat out a year of competition. Zeigler played four consecutive seasons and did not redshirt but argues that he should be allowed a fifth year of eligibility and earning potential instead of being essentially punished for not redshirting.

It notes that the fifth year is “the most lucrative year of the eligibility window for the vast majority of athletes.”

“All NCAA athletes should be eligible to compete and earn NIL compensation during each year of the five-year window — not just those selected to redshirt,” the court filings state.

The lawsuit indicates that Zeigler is not challenging the five-year eligibility window, but the four-year competition window within the five years. It notes that Zeigler’s class is the first class in the NIL era to “have their ability to engage in commerce truncated to four years” because prior classes were granted an extra year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zeigler, the filing states, “does not challenge the NCAA’s five-year eligibility window or argue that he should be able to compete for more than five years. He merely asks for the ability to compete for all five years of the NCAA’s eligibility window.”

In a filing June 2, the NCAA argued other athletes who have successfully sued the NCAA, such as Vanderbilt football’s Diego Pavia, sued for eligibility for seasons they weren’t a Division I athlete. Zeigler, however, has been a Division I athlete his entire collegiate career.

Zeigler, the NCAA argued, only got his chance to play at UT because another athletes exhausted their eligibility and opened up a roster spot for him. They called this the “lifecycle of a collegiate athlete.”

The NCAA argued that nothing would stop other athletes from suing the organization if it capped the eligibility at five years. They would sue to play for six years or seven years. It wouldn’t stop, they allege.

In a June 7 filing, Zeigler’s attorneys argued that the NCAA does not have the authority in the state of Tennessee to enforce its eligibility rules because of a new state law, but the judge largely sidestepped the argument altogether and said it would not be enough to grant the injunctive relief Zeigler sought.

“Instead, the law leaves enforcement in the capable hands of Tennessee’s ‘attorney general and reporter,'” Crytzer wrote. “Plaintiff therefore may not obtain a preliminary injunction based on a novel interpretation of the law.” 

The new Tennessee law, Senate Bill 536, allows Tennessee universities and athletes to opt out of NCAA rules if they appear to violate antitrust law. The initial purpose was to shift liability toward the NCAA and conferences and away from the schools in anticipated antitrust lawsuits by athletes unhappy with new player-pay rules in college sports.

But broad language in the law – which has not been litigated in any court – strips the NCAA of its power if the association prohibits a Tennessee athlete from earning money. Zeigler’s attorneys seized on that portion to push for a preliminary injunction that would grant him a fifth year of eligibility.

Zeigler averaged 11.3 points and 5.4 assists in his four seasons with the Vols. He shot 33.1% on 3-pointers.

Knox News reporters Tyler Whetstone and Adam Sparks contributed to this report.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.





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They pulled off huge March Madness upsets. Now they’re opting out of revenue sharing

Associated Press Saint Peter’s, Fairleigh Dickinson and Maryland-Baltimore County — three schools that have taken March Madness by storm at various points in the past decade — have declined to opt in to college sports’ new revenue sharing model. The newly formed College Sports Commission, which oversees revenue sharing following the House settlement, posted a […]

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Associated Press

Saint Peter’s, Fairleigh Dickinson and Maryland-Baltimore County — three schools that have taken March Madness by storm at various points in the past decade — have declined to opt in to college sports’ new revenue sharing model.

The newly formed College Sports Commission, which oversees revenue sharing following the House settlement, posted a list of schools that have opted into revenue sharing. All members of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Conference are participating, and other Division I schools had to opt in or out by June 30.

Saint Peter’s, which reached the men’s Elite Eight as a No. 15 seed in 2022, did not opt in. Iona and Manhattan, who play with Saint Peter’s in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, didn’t either.

UMBC and Fairleigh Dickinson, the only two teams to pull off a 16-over-1 upset in the men’s basketball tournament, opted out as well. Fairleigh Dickinson is part of the Northeast Conference, which had just one school — Long Island University — opt in.

“It’s expensive to opt in,” Idaho athletic director Terry Gawlik told the Lewiston Tribune. “We don’t have that kind of money to pay for that.”

Idaho is one of several Big Sky schools opting out.

In addition to the costs of sharing revenue directly with athletes, Title IX concerns and scholarship limitations are among the reasons a school might opt out.

“Revenue sharing and scholarship limits are really one piece, but the big thing for us is the roster limitation,” Central Arkansas athletic director Matt Whiting told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette while explaining his school’s decision to opt out.

Military rules prevent Navy, Air Force, and Army from compensating athletes through name, image and likeness deals, but aside from them, the Football Bowl Subdivision leagues have full participation in the settlement.

Other conferences with all full members opting in included the Atlantic 10, Big East, Coastal Athletic, Horizon, Missouri Valley, Southwestern Athletic, Western Athletic and West Coast. The Big West had everyone opt in except Cal Poly and UC Davis, which play football in the Big Sky.

Nebraska-Omaha is the lone full member of the Summit League to opt out, and Tennessee State is the only full Ohio Valley member to do so.

The Ivy League said in January that its eight schools — which do not award athletic scholarships — would not participate. The Patriot League didn’t have any full members opt in either, although Fordham, Georgetown and Richmond — associate members who play football in that conference — did.

Of the 68 schools that made the NCAA men’s basketball tournament last year, only American, Nebraska-Omaha, Saint Francis and Yale have opted out of revenue sharing. Five schools that made the women’s tournament opted out: Columbia, Fairleigh Dickinson, Harvard, Lehigh and Princeton.

Commissioners of historically Black conferences have expressed concern that the push to make athletes school employees could potentially destroy athletic programs — but the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and Southwestern Athletic Conference had everyone opt in except North Carolina Central.

Some schools that don’t play Division I football or basketball opted in — such as Johns Hopkins with its storied lacrosse program. Augusta University, which is located in the same town as the Masters and perhaps unsurprisingly competes in Division I in golf, was on the list of teams opting in.

___

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports





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Title IX Goes Head to Head with Antitrust: NCAA NIL Settlement Challenged by Female Student-Athletes in House v. NCAA | Venable LLP

For anyone who thought an unprecedented $2.8 billion settlement agreement actually resolved one of the many murky issues of student-athlete compensation in college athletics —not so fast. On June 6, federal Judge Claudia Wilken officially approved the class action antitrust lawsuit House v. NCAA. The landmark settlement turned the amateurism model of athletics in higher […]

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For anyone who thought an unprecedented $2.8 billion settlement agreement actually resolved one of the many murky issues of student-athlete compensation in college athletics —not so fast. On June 6, federal Judge Claudia Wilken officially approved the class action antitrust lawsuit House v. NCAA. The landmark settlement turned the amateurism model of athletics in higher education on its head and is set to provide back pay to Division I student-athletes for name, image, and likeness (NIL) earnings. While it took five years of litigation to get approval of the settlement, it took just five days for a group of plaintiffs to appeal it.

NCAA NIL Settlement in House v. NCAA Faces Immediate Title IX Challenge

On June 11, a group of female student-athlete plaintiffs in House noticed an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals registering their objection to the back-pay provision of the final settlement. Although no appellate briefs have been filed yet, these female student-athletes are expected to assert that the settlement’s terms for paying out back-pay damages violates the prohibition on sex discrimination under Title IX because the settlement is set to overwhelmingly pay out most of the back-pay damages to male athletes.

Allegations of Unequal NIL Compensation Based on Gender

More specifically, the settlement’s formula for paying out back-pay damages has allocated 75% of the fund to men’s football players and 15% to men’s basketball players in the five premiere athletic conferences in NCAA Division I, with only 5% of the damages fund allocated to women’s basketball players and the remaining 5% to all other student-athletes.

Proponents of this formula argue that it tracks the gross revenue averages of college sports, and accordingly football players should get the biggest piece of the pie. Opponents, including the appealing female student-athletes, argue that the back-pay damages formula in the agreement will pay male athletes 90% more than female athletes, which they assert is an unlawful disparity based on gender.

The anticipated argument is, essentially, that if the schools and/or the NCAA on behalf of schools had allocated 90% of their revenue to the male athletes during the plaintiffs’ college athletic careers, then they clearly would have violated Title IX’s requirement to provide “substantially proportionate” financial assistance to male and female student-athletes. In short, the schools would not have met their obligation to ensure equitable opportunities for both men’s and women’s sports programs.

Judge Wilken’s view in approving the settlement was that the litigation was an antitrust case, not a Title IX case, and the Title IX compliance, unionization, and collective bargaining issues are outside the scope of the House litigation. She nonetheless left the door open to a Title IX challenge on appeal, indicating that future lawsuits can be filed if the way that schools compensate athletes violates Title IX. Despite the appeal putting the brakes on the payout of back-pay damages under the settlement, the other terms of the agreement were left uninterrupted and went into effect on July 1. This includes roster limits, scholarship limits, and the rules regarding direct pay and revenue-sharing with student-athletes.

What’s Next: Ninth Circuit to Weigh Title IX and NIL Backpay

The Ninth Circuit now has an opportunity to weigh in on whether Title IX does have a bearing on these back-pay damages. It may simply decide that Judge Wilken did or did not abuse her discretion in approving the settlement. Or it could take on the larger controversial and contested issue: How does Title IX apply to NIL payments and revenue sharing with student-athletes, and does the revenue-sharing model set forth under the settlement agreement terms for future compensation for student-athletes run afoul of Title IX?

Regardless of how far-reaching the Ninth Circuit’s opinion ultimately goes in the House appeal this is not the last Title IX challenge we will see to the allocation of direct payments and revenue sharing funds to student-athletes in the near future.

The federal government’s current position on the issue of direct pay and revenue sharing with regard to Title IX does not currently provide decisive direction to courts that may grapple with this issue in the future. The U.S. Department of Education guidance under the Biden administration indicated payments to student-athletes would have been considered “athletic financial assistance,” which requires proportional allocation among male and female athletes at a given institution. The Trump administration rescinded that guidance in February, and in the current landscape, it is unclear whether compensating student-athletes will be viewed by the Office of Civil Rights—the agency division tasked with Title IX enforcement—as subject to Title IX.

Division I schools have been mulling over their options since the proposed settlement agreement was under review. However, the thorny issues of direct pay to student-athletes, equitable sports programming, and NIL deals are not reserved exclusively for D-1 schools and their athletic departments—any college or university with an athletic program should closely track the developments in federal and state law in this space.



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Vandal Soccer to Host WSU, BSU as Part of 2025 Schedule

Story Links MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho Vandal soccer plays host to Washington State, Boise State, South Dakota, and UTEP in non-conference play while traveling to Washington, Grand Canyon, Bakersfield and making an East Coast swing to face UMass Lowell and Stonehill College.   In Big Sky play, Idaho welcomes Montana, […]

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MOSCOW, Idaho – Idaho Vandal soccer plays host to Washington State, Boise State, South Dakota, and UTEP in non-conference play while traveling to Washington, Grand Canyon, Bakersfield and making an East Coast swing to face UMass Lowell and Stonehill College.
 
In Big Sky play, Idaho welcomes Montana, Eastern Washington, Northern Colorado and Northern Arizona to the dome while traveling to Idaho State, Weber State, Sacramento State and Portland State.
 
The schedule is among the best in program history and includes some of the Northwest’s top programs.

Idaho opens the season with a pair of exhibition games in early August. The Vandals welcome in West Coast Conference team Gonzaga on Monday, Aug. 4 before traveling to Oregon to play the Big Ten member Ducks on Friday, Aug. 8.

 

The regular season opens in the dome with a contest against UC Riverside on Aug. 14 before closing out the week against Big Ten Washington on Sunday, Aug. 17 in Seattle.

 

The Vandals have a Northeast swing with games against UMass Lowell on Aug. 21 before playing Stonehill College (Mass.) on Aug. 23.

 

Idaho hosts Washington State on Aug. 28, South Dakota on Aug. 31 and UTEP on Sept. 4 before heading road to play at Grand Canyon on Sept. 11 and CSU Bakersfield on Sept. 14.

 

The Vandals host Boise State on Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. to close out non-conference play.

 

Idaho hits the road for games against Idaho State (Sept. 25), Weber State (Sept. 28) and Sacramento State (Oct. 2) to open Big Sky Conference action.

 

Montana comes to the dome on Oct. 5 followed by Eastern Washington on Oct. 12.

 

The Vandals’ final road game will be at Portland State on Oct. 19 before closing the season with home games against Northern Colorado (Oct. 24) and Northern Arizona (Oct. 26).

 

Idaho has played in the Big Sky Championship match each of the last three seasons, winning the title in 2023.

 

Season tickets are on sale now at GoVandals.com/Tickets.

 



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Josh Heupel drops truth bomb on Nico Iamaleava’s departure at Tennessee

The post Josh Heupel drops truth bomb on Nico Iamaleava’s departure at Tennessee appeared first on ClutchPoints. Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel has had a lot on his plate this offseason, as the team lost their starting quarterback. Nico Iamaleava decided to leave the program, after a dispute over NIL compensation. Now, Heupel is commenting […]

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The post Josh Heupel drops truth bomb on Nico Iamaleava’s departure at Tennessee appeared first on ClutchPoints.

Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel has had a lot on his plate this offseason, as the team lost their starting quarterback. Nico Iamaleava decided to leave the program, after a dispute over NIL compensation. Now, Heupel is commenting on that entire incident.

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“It’s never about who is not in your building. It’s about who is in your building,” Heupel said, per ESPN.

Iamaleava is now at UCLA, after entering the transfer portal. He threw for 2,616 passing yards last season with the Volunteers. He also finished the season with 19 touchdown passes.

The situation also made waves across college football. It caused a national discussion about new guardrails for NIL. NIL stands for name, image and likeness. It allows college players to get paid.

The Volunteers made the College Football Playoff last season, before losing to Ohio State. Tennessee won 10 games on the campaign.

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Tennessee football has competition at quarterback for 2025

The Volunteers currently have three quarterbacks that are fighting for the starting spot. They are: Joey Aguilar, Jake Merklinger and George MacIntyre. Aguilar is considered the top man to beat for the job. He has the most experience at the college level, although he has never started a game for a power 4 program.

Aguilar came to Tennessee in the transfer portal. He spent last season at Appalachian State, but had briefly been with UCLA after his time with the Mountaineers. Last season with App State, Aguilar threw for 3,003 yards and 23 touchdowns. He has thrown for at least 3,000 yards the last two years.

MacIntyre is considered a top prospect, who was highly ranked by college football recruiting services in the 2025 class. He is from the state of Tennessee and was considered the top recruit in the state this past year by many scouting services.

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Merklinger was used sparingly in the 2024 season by the Volunteers. He ended up taking a redshirt after playing a few games. The young quarterback is also a highly regarded prospect.

Tennessee football starts their 2025 season against Syracuse. The two schools meet on August 30.

Related: Georgia football QB Gunner Stockton confidently brushes off Paul Finebaum criticism

Related: Steve Sarkisian reveals major point of emphasis that cost Longhorns national titles



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Tyler Atkinson announces commitment between Oregon, Texas, Georgia

One of the top-ranked players in the 2026 recruiting cycle came off the board on Tuesday morning, with 5-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson announcing his commitment live on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN. Unfortunately for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks, it was not the Oregon hat that Atkinson pulled on. Instead, the 5-star LB, […]

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One of the top-ranked players in the 2026 recruiting cycle came off the board on Tuesday morning, with 5-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson announcing his commitment live on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN. Unfortunately for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks, it was not the Oregon hat that Atkinson pulled on.

Instead, the 5-star LB, ranked as the No. 9 overall player and No. 1 LB in the 2026 class, announced that he would be committing to the Texas Longhorns, choosing Steve Sarkisian’s team over both the Ducks and Kirby Smart’s Georgia Bulldogs.

The commitment to Texas comes as a bit of a surprise in the grand scheme of things, seeing as Atkinson is rated as the No. 1 player from the state of Georgia, and pulling a 5-star defender out of the Peach State is nearly impossible. However, there are talks of a massive NIL deal from Texas that neither Georgia nor Oregon was willing to compete with in the end.

For the Ducks, this is a tough loss on the recruiting trail, but not one that will break things. On Wednesday, 4-star linebacker Nick Abrams II will announce his commitment, with Oregon and Georgia as finalists for his pledge. Beyond that, there are several other players on Oregon’s board that the Ducks will look to land when all is said and done.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.



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Chris Webber on how NIL would’ve changed Fab 5 history

The Michigan basketball program is currently gearing up for what they hope will be a successful 2025-26 season. The Wolverines are coming off of a 2024-25 season in which they made the Sweet 16 under first year head coach Dusty May but saw considerable talent head to the NBA Draft this past June. Wolverine fans […]

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The Michigan basketball program is currently gearing up for what they hope will be a successful 2025-26 season. The Wolverines are coming off of a 2024-25 season in which they made the Sweet 16 under first year head coach Dusty May but saw considerable talent head to the NBA Draft this past June.

Wolverine fans likely can’t help but reminisce about the days of the “Fab Five,” led by Chris Webber in the early 1990s. Recently, Webber stopped by ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter’s podcast and discussed what impact that NIL rules (Name, image, and likeness) may have had on the Fab Five’s success three decades ago.

“If somebody could have paid you now multiple millions of dollars to stay in school…” wondered Schefter.

“To stay with Jalen, Juwan, Ray, and Jimmy? What are you talking about, yes we could’ve extended and we would have gotten an NIL for all of our players. We would’ve had our 12th man with an NIL deal because we loved our teammates that much,” said Webber. “You know, almost like a quarterback giving his offensive linemen go-karts or whatever. Two more years to be able to be kids? Yeah.”

Webber himself was caught up in an incident where he was accused of borrowing money from Michigan booster Ed Martin, something that never would have been an issue now with the current name, image, and likeness rules in place.

Joining Webber as members of the Fab Five were Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson, who helped lead the team to championship game appearances in both 1992 and 1993.

Unfortunately, those Final Four appearances were vacated due to Webber’s incident with Martin.

Today’s college sports landscape is drastically different, with players routinely inking deals in the millions to allow themselves to benefit off of their name and image, and with the transfer portal now affording players an opportunity to take their talents elsewhere much more easily.






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