Mauk states his case

I talked extensively today with Ben Mauk about his attempt to get the NCAA to grant him another year of eligibility for next season. It’s a pretty compelling case.

All along, Mauk and his family had believed that it was his final year at Wake that would be the focus of his original request for a sixth year, a request that was denied by the NCAA in February. When they found out that his freshman year was the one in question, Mauk said he was also hurt that year and submitted new information to the NCAA to consider.

“Once I realized the redshirt year is the year that’s going to be in question, I said, well I was definitely hurt that year too,” Mauk said, “so I brought out the documentations, the surgical reports. It’s all factual information. I’m not trying to put one past anybody.”

Mauk broke his leg during his freshman year in high school. He had a plate and screws inserted, including one in his big toe. Everything was fine until his senior year in high school when the screw in his toe began to work its way out, forcing doctors to remove it.

“If you can imagine the bone in your big toe being hollow and how fragile that’s going to be,” Mauk said. “I was off of it for six to eight weeks where I was on crutches. Right before fall camp started (at Wake Forest) I was getting back into running. The incision was just bleeding through. It was pretty frustrating.”

Mauk said he chose Wake Forest in part because he was told that he would have a chance to compete for the starting position as a true freshman. He wasn’t about to let his big toe prevent him from competing, so he pressed on, even though he said, his sock would frequently fill with blood from the incision.

“I’m not going to sit out if I have a chance to play,” Mauk said. “I tried to persevere and push through there and that’s why I went through practice. Otherwise, I would have sat out.”

But he says he was not able to play the way he had in high school.

“Obviously, I didn’t win the job because of my toe,” he said. “I couldn’t go through all the drills. I couldn’t develop into the starting quarterback that they wanted me to because of my toe.”

Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe then decided that Mauk would redshirt, a decision that Mauk said he was helpless to contest. In the eyes of the NCAA, a redshirt year is voluntary, but Mauk says in his case it was due to an injury that prevented him from playing that season.

“What basically has to happen,” said Maggie McKinley, UC’s compliance director, “is the NCAA has to see medical documentation that says he was unable to participate for the entire season.”

Brian Kelly and McKinley are both saying that the NCAA’s ruling could come early next week, but with the NCAA you never know.