BEN MAUK LOSES FINAL APPEAL FOR 6th SEASON

August 8, 2008


Ben Mauk threw for over 3,100 yards and 31 touchdowns helping lead head coach Brian Kelly and his Cincinnati Bearcats to a surprising top 20 rankins in the final polls.

Mauk broke the arm and separated the shoulder in the season opener for Wake Forest in 2006, then transferred to Cincinnati, sitting out the rest of the season, unsure whether he would ever be able to play again. He turned in a spectacular 2007 season, even as the arm still gave him trouble,but he improved as the year progressed.

After the 2007 season, Mauk appealed to the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility because of the injuries, but was turned down. He appealed a second time on a different basis, clainimg that he redshirted his freshman year at Wake Forest in part because of different injuries, although no injury claim was made when declaring the redhsirt season by Wake. The NCAA again turned him down.

Finally, Mauk took his appeal to the NCAA’s reinstatement committee, which decided Friday that there wasn’t enough medical documentation to support his claim that he missed his freshman year because of injury and the NCAA Denies Mauk's Final Eligibility Appeal (Yahoo! AP Story).

The ruling means that Cincinnati will head into the season with senior Dustin Grutza as the No. 1 quarterback. Mauk replaced Grutza as the starter last season.