Published: November 14, 2007 12:57 am      

UC’s QB broke House’s record

COLUMN

MORGANTOWN — It was truly a haunting feeling, the kind we’ve all experienced.

Here it was, time for West Virginia to play Cincinnati in what is now the Mountaineers third or fourth “Game of the Year,” and the talk got around, as it inevitably had to, to the Bearcats’ quarterback Ben Mauk.

There was this feeling that the name was familiar, and not just because he once was a starting quarterback at Wake Forest. It was somehow connected to West Virginia itself, but how and why it refused to surface in the conscious mind was a mystery.

Ben Mauk … quarterback … connection to West Virginia … what … why?

And then suddenly the mind latched onto it as if it were … well, a touchdown pass.

Ben Mauk is the high school quarterback who broke J.R. House’s national high school record for passing yardage.

House, of course, became as much of a celebrity as a West Virginia high school star can when, at Nitro High, he passed for 14,457 yards in a career capped off when he threw an incredible 10 touchdown passes in the state championship game against Morgantown.

That record stood until Mauk came along at Kenton High, which is near Lima, Ohio, and threw for 17,364 yards, including a senior season that saw him become 2002 Mr. Football in the state when he passed for 6,540 yards and threw 76 touchdowns.

Unlike House, who decided to make a career playing professional baseball out of high school, Mauk decided on college football, where he was Wake Forest’s starting quarterback against Syracuse in the 2006 opener.

Like House, his career has been plagued by injury.

In that Syracuse game, while trying to recover a fumble, he injured his throwing shoulder and had to be removed from the field on a stretcher. Two months later he underwent arthroscopic surgery.

Like House, who turned to God when put down by injury, so, too, did Mauk.

“I just put my faith and trust in God,” he once said. “I know everything happens for a reason, so I just had to trust God.”

He had to be wondering about what God had in store for him, however, for that injury was hardly the first he had suffered. Listen to this medical chart he has to offer:

Both legs have been broken. There is a two-inch plate and seven screws in his ankle, a screw in his big toe, a plate in his right arm and eight screws in his right shoulder, along with a steel rod. That accompanies a scar running from the top of his right shoulder to the middle of his arm.

He must set off every alarm in an airport each time he tries to go through security checkpoints.

Mauk’s nickname?

What else? “Bionic Ben.”

While some would say it’s a miracle he has led Cincinnati into the national rankings and into position to challenge for the Big East championship, others would just say it’s a miracle that he can play at all.

“A lot of people said that with the injuries I had I wouldn’t be able to come back, but I always had to work to prepare like I was going to come back,” he said.

Mauk not only refused to back away from football, he begged for more. When he graduated from Wake Forest, he decided he would take advantage of the same rule that WVU’s safety Ryan Mundy used to gain another year of eligibility when he graduated from Michigan.

A graduated player with a year’s eligibility left was allowed to transfer without sitting out a year if he was going for an advanced degree at the new school not offered at his former school. We say “was” because the rule has since been removed from the books but players in school at the time were grandfathered in.

“I know he was talking about the transfer, and I remember him texting me before the International Bowl. He said, ‘Get ready for a BCS bowl game,’” Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly revealed earlier this season.

And while the Bearcats are not there yet, Mauk has them in position. Make no doubt about it, either, that he is the prime reason for Kelly’s success in his first full year with the program. Kelly inherited a deep, experienced defense from defensive-minded Mark D’Antonio, who left for Michigan State, but he was about to put in a pass-oriented spread in place of the pro set that had been run.

As anyone who saw Rich Rodriguez’s first year here with Brad Lewis at quarterback understands, you need a special quarterback to run the spread. Mauk is special, and he fell into Kelly’s lap.

“He’s a better athlete than what people might give him credit for, and he’s a smart player,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who actually upset Mauk and Cincinnati. “He understands the offense well. He’s an older player who has been around. You can’t underestimate what experience means.”

“Mauk has made a huge difference for Cincinnati, huge,” said Connecticut’s Randy Edsall, whose unbeaten Big East season ended last week against the Bearcats.

“He’s smart and can make plays with his feet and can beat you with his arm. He scrambled around a couple of times but always seems to throw the ball to the right guy.”

“He’s the heartbeat of their offense,” is the way Jim Leavitt, South Florida’s coach, put it.

Mauk has completed 60 percent of 258 passes for 2,033 yards with 21 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He has also run for 279 yards.

By comparison, WVU’s Patrick White has completed 69 percent of 155 passes for 1,251 yards with 11 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He has also run for 803 yards and 10 touchdowns.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.