Zakai Zeigler announces NIL deal with Fortnite, Epic Games

Fortnite and Epic Games have not been shy about wading in the into the NIL waters of college athletics in the past few days. On Wednesday, they announced a deal with Texas’ quarterback-wide receiver duo of Quinn Ewers and Xavier Worthy. The companies also announced a deal on the same day with a college basketball star, Tennessee’s ankle-breaking shooting guard, Zakai Zeigler. He announced the news on his Twitter page.

Zeigler made a major impact as a true freshman for the Tennessee Volunteers and earned a number of different accolades last year including: SEC All-Defensive Team, SEC All-Freshman Team, and SEC Freshman of the Week (Week of Feb. 7, 2022). While he contributed as a scorer (8.8 points per game), he was also able to affect the game in other ways (1.7 steals per game) and assists (2.7 assists per game). Zeigler led the team in free throw percentage–shooting 86.6 percent from the line.

He became just the fourth Volunteer player to ever get selected to the SEC All-Defensive Team and he was the first to do it as a freshman. In Tennessee’s big win over the No. 4 Kentucky Wildcats, Zeigler stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, four assists, and four steals. One of his best games came against the Vanderbilt Commodores, when he pumped in a team-high 16 points and a career-high five assists.

Zeigler’s house was damaged by a horrible fire at his New York home in March, but more than 5,400 people donated to the GoFundMe, which raised over $350,000 in donations to help his family recoup the losses they suffered.

Coming out of Immaculate Conception High School (Montclair, New Jersey) Zeigler was one of the more underrated prospects in America. He had an impressive showing in six games at the 2021 Peach Jam, averaging 15.3 points per game, 5.5 assists per game, and maintaining a 4.7 assist-to-turnover ratio. Zeigler also connected on 50 percent of his three-point attempts during the Peach Jam.