By Dan Sewell
Associated PressCINCINNATI ó Former Wake Forest quarterback Ben Mauk has launched a legal Hail Mary in an effort to keep his college football career alive.
Mauk filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the NCAA, less than a week after the association rejected his final appeal for another year of eligibility at the University of Cincinnati.
Mauk was a key player as Cincinnati rose to college football’s Top 25 last season. He says he should get another season because of playing time lost to injury while he was at Wake Forest.
The NCAA allows up to two medical exemptions, meaning a student-athlete could be eligible for six years of play with a legitimate reason, said Mauk’s attorney, Kevin Murphy.
Mauk came back from career-threatening injuries to lead Cincinnati last year to a No. 17 ranking in the final poll. He passed for 31 touchdowns and 3,121 yards even though his right arm and shoulder were still in pain.
Mauk broke the arm and separated the shoulder in Wake Forest’s season opener in 2006, then transferred to Cincinnati.
He appealed to the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility because of the injuries, but was turned down, then appealed again, saying he was redshirted his freshman year at Wake Forest in part because of different injuries. That was also turned down.
Mauk then went to the NCAA’s reinstatement committee, which ruled last week there wasn’t enough medical documentation to support his claim that he missed his freshman year because of injury. His lawsuit says it’s not his fault that files weren’t maintained.
“The reason for the (NCAA) denial was … the lack of records kept by the Wake Forest training staff. How is that in the control of Ben Mauk?” Murphy said.