CINCINNATI — Quarterback Ben Mauk lost his latest appeal to the NCAA for another year of eligibility on Wednesday, leaving him with one final chance to play for Cincinnati.
After a couple of days of mixed signals, the NCAA told the former Bearcats’ quarterback that it had turned him down for the fourth time. Now, Mauk will appeal directly to the NCAA’s reinstatement committee for another season.
Mauk will talk to the reinstatement committee by phone on this afternoon, a few hours before the Bearcats open their season at home against Eastern Kentucky. He expects a decision either later in the day or on Friday.
“We were hoping they would find in our favor, but I think it’s the reinstatement committee that we really need to talk to,” said Kevin Murphy, who is Mauk’s lawyer.
Mauk led the Bearcats to 10 wins and a No. 17 final ranking last season, when he came back from serious shoulder and arm injuries. He appealed for another season on grounds that injuries had sidelined while he was at Wake Forest.
After being turned down three times, Mauk filed a lawsuit in an Ohio court and got a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, which then agreed to reconsider.
The case fell into confusion this week. Mauk’s lawyer was told by an NCAA representative on Monday that the latest appeal had been turned down. The representative called back a day later and apologized, saying the staff hadn’t reached a final decision yet.
On Wednesday, the association said the decision was final after all.
“The mistake they made was very hurtful,” Murphy said. “That was tough on Ben. To be told it was denied, then no, wait, then to be denied again, was a terrible experience.”
Mauk initially appealed for another season because of the dislocated shoulder and broken passing arm he suffered in the season opener at Wake Forest in 2006. When that argument was rejected, he contended that he had to redshirt his freshman year at Wake Forest because of injury and should get another season for that reason. That argument has been rejected, too.
Mauk transferred from Wake Forest to Cincinnati for his graduate studies, rehabilitated his shoulder and led the Bearcats to their breakthrough season. He threw for 31 touchdowns and 3,121 yards even though scar tissue forced him to miss an entire game and part of another.
Senior Dustin Grutza, who was Mauk’s backup last season, will start for the Bearcats tonight.
Elsewhere
FLORIDA: Receiver Percy Harvin will likely miss Florida’s season opener against Hawaii on Saturday. Harvin is still recovering from a right heel injury that required offseason surgery. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound junior has been unable to go full speed since the second day of fall practice on Aug. 5.
FLORIDA STATE: Defensive tackle Emmanuel Dunbar was taken by ambulance to a hospital after suffering a back injury Wednesday in practice. The redshirt junior has a history of back problems, including a 2006 surgery to repair two herniated disks.Team officials had to cut Dunbar’s jersey and shoulder pads off Wednesday to load him into the ambulance. A Florida State spokesman said doctors were examining Dunbar on Wednesday night and his status for Seminoles’ season opener against Western Carolina on Sept. 6 was uncertain. Dunbar played in three games last season, and was expected to start the first three games this year while two other Seminoles defensive tackles serve academic misconduct suspensions.
INDIANA: Defensive end Greg Middleton, who led the nation with 16 sacks last season, and three other players have been suspended for the Hoosiers’ season-opening game Saturday against Western Kentucky. They were benched for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. Middleton was first-team All-Big Ten and a third-team All-America selection. The other suspended players, none of them starters, are tight end Troy Wagner, safety Brandon Mosley and freshman defensive end Kyle Kozak.
TEXAS: The Vince Young legacy keeps growing at Texas. The quarterback who led the Longhorns to the 2005 national championship will have his No. 10 retired in a ceremony before Saturday night’s season opener against Florida Atlantic. Young’s name and number will be permanently displayed on the facade of the new upper deck in the north end zone of Darrell K. Royal/Texas Memorial Stadium. He will also be presented with a framed burnt-orange jersey. Young led the Longhorns to a 13-0 record in 2005, capped by a 41-38 win over USC in the Rose Bowl. Young’s fourth-down dash to the end zone in the final minute scored the winning touchdown and capped one of the great individual performances in the history of college football. He was 30-2 as a starter and won his final 20 games. Aafter leaving Texas following his junior season, Young was drafted third overall and is now in his third year with the Tennessee Titans in the NFL.
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