Ben Mauk’s Brett Favre imitation

By Darrell Laurant  |   Wednesday, July 30, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Cincinnati Bearcats
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The similarities are startling.

While the national media commit overkill with the Brett Favre-Aaron Rodgers debacle, the University of Cincinnati wrestles with almost a mirror-image situation.

In the role of Brett Favre, Ben Mauk. Playing Aaron Rodgers, Dustin Grutza. And like the Green Bay Packers' recurring nightmare, this may remain unresolved for a while.

Mauk had a great year for the Bearcats last season -- 3,121 passing yards and 31 touchdowns, despite recurring problems with an old injury to his throwing arm and shoulder -- as did Favre with Green Bay.

It was Mauk's fifth year, thanks to the Syracuse Orange, who knocked him out in the first game of 2006 and damaged his shoulder so badly that a plate had to be implanted in it. Now, he's appealing a previous NCAA decision denying him a sixth season.

Which can't be very appealing for Grutza, now a senior. The Maysville, Ky., product started 11 games as a UC freshman and got most of the playing time as a sophomore. But then Mauk transferred in from Wake Forest under a new NCAA rule allowing post-graduate players to transfer without having to sit out a year, and Grutza's contributions were relegated to the Miami of Ohio and Marshall games when Mauk was hurt.

Mauk's contention is that he was "forced" to take his redshirt year as a Wake Forest freshman. But how many players really get to make that decision?

Meanwhile, he plans to show up for preseason practice (sound familiar?) and take snaps next to Grutza, who has been a consummate team player throughout. Inwardly, though, he has to be fuming -- this is his last shot to end his career on a positive note.

As a freshman and sophomore, Grutza showed a strong arm but a distressing tendency to throw passes to the other team -- 12 picks in 2006, nine touchdowns. In limited action last year, though, he was 39-of-55 for four TDs and no interceptions through the air. His performance against Miami of Ohio earned him Big East offensive player of the week honors.

At this point, though, Bearcat coach Brian Kelly seems to be sending mixed messages.

"Anytime you have a chance to get a guy on your team who threw for 3,000 yards, you have to take it," he said earlier this year.

Meanwhile, he designated Grutza as one of two seniors to accompany him to Big East media day in Newport, R.I.

It's beginning to seem as though Mauk has been in college football as long as Joe Paterno, and you have to admire his tenaciousness -- especially after overcoming an injury that would have ended most careers.

Still, he obviously has the credentials to get a shot in arena ball or a minor league and impress the NFL front-office people who didn't draft him in April.

Meanwhile, Dustin Grutza could get a chance to carve out his own legacy.
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