Former East standout Deuce Zimmerman will play his final season of college football at Northern Arizona University.
Deuce Zimmerman is bound for the Big Sky Conference.
The decorated college wide receiver from Anchorage today posted on social media he will sign with Northern Arizona out of the NCAA transfer portal, making the jump to the FCS after spending his first three seasons at Division II Western New Mexico.
The 6-foot-2 playmaker isn’t just one of the greatest receivers out of Alaska, he’s also one of the best out of the Lone Star Conference as a two-time first-team all-league selection. His 20 receiving TDs rank second all-time among NCAA receivers from Alaska, trailing only Anchorage’s Joe Wuebben, a former Bartlett wideout who caught 21 at Western Colorado from 1995-98.
Zimmerman went from good to great at Western New Mexico, elevating his game each season in Silver City and finishing with 104 receptions for 1,611 yards, an average of 15.5 yards per catch.
Zimmerman picked NAU from a group of nine schools that offered him a scholarship after he entered the portal last month.
“I’m excited to share that I’ll be attending Northern Arizona University,” he posted to social media. “I’ve worked hard to get here, and I’m proud to take the next step in my journey.”
The Lumberjacks finished the 2025 season 7-5, 4-4 in the Big Sky.
Once he entered the portal, Zimmerman handled his own PR on social media.
Zimmerman came of age as a senior at East in 2021, when he made 52 catches for 950 yards and 13 TDs to help the 10-1 T-birds win the ASAA Division I state championship.
He had a decent freshman season at Western New Mexico with 21-365-3 totals but then took his game to an elite level as a sophomore and junior. In 2024, he posted 39-570-7 totals and became just the fifth Alaskan to score four TDs in a NCAA game.
That set him up for a big junior year, this season, when he posted career-high totals of 44 receptions, 676 yards and 10 TDs.
Zimmerman was also offered by two other Big Sky schools, Idaho and Idaho State, in addition to other notables such as Southern Utah, Wagner and UT Martin.
“Thank you to all the coaches and staffs that have reached out to me,” Zimmerman posted on social media. “I really do appreciate it.”
