Former Deacons QB is suing the NCAA

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.

Hardin County Judge William Hart in Mauk's home area of Kenton, Ohio, on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order that says the NCAA cannot prevent him from practicing for the Bearcats.

The judge set an Aug. 22 hearing on Mauk's request for a permanent injunction against the NCAA.

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.

"We believe the NCAA has treated Ben differently than it has other athletes with very, very similar circumstances," Murphy said. He said the NCAA also denied Mauk's request for a hearing on the matter.

He said Mauk's surgeon told the NCAA that he would require nine months to heal after a March 2003 surgery, making him unable to play the following season. Mauk also was injured in 2006.

"The facts are that he only got to play three years," Murphy said.

Mauk wasn't at the Bearcats' practice Thursday at a summer camp facility in West Harrison, Ind.

Coach Brian Kelly told The Cincinnati Enquirer that he wouldn't risk using a player while he's been declared ineligible, saying the school could potentially have to forfeit games and give back bowl money.

"That's ludicrous to even think that we would put him on the field and put our football team in harm's way," Kelly said Thursday.

"Despite being a model student-athlete (and person) for the NCAA and despite having earned the NCAA significant revenues, the NCAA has wrongfully, arbitrarily and capriciously denied Mr. Mauk's request to participate in a fourth year of athletic competition for reasons completely beyond Mr. Mauk's control," the lawsuit states.

The NCAA was disappointed by the judge's ruling, a spokesman said.

"We look forward to explaining more fully our reasons for the decision and the careful review given not only by our staff but also by representatives from our member schools," spokesman Erik Christianson said in a statement.

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.