Thought done at the collegiate level because of myriad off-field issues, Maty Mauk instead got another chance at Eastern Kentucky. Now, the quarterback might be hoping for another one last final chance.
Mauk played in only two games during his first year at EKU because of a shoulder injury as well as a concussion, and is expected to miss the remainder of his fifth-year senior season. Mauk’s head coach confirmed that the school is looking into applying for a sixth season of eligibility on Mauk’s behalf.
“Anytime a senior in his final year of eligibility has a season-ending injury, you are going to examine (the situation) to see if there is an opportunity for him to get that year back,” Mark Elder told the Richmond Register. “You feel for these guys when they put so much into it. They’ve invested a ton throughout their entire life into this sport.”
In order to earn a sixth season of eligibility, Mauk would have to prove that the redshirt season he took at Missouri as a true freshman in 2012 was either injury- or health-related. Mauk was also suspended for most of the 2015 season; he would not be permitted to use that lost season in making his case for a sixth season.
In late January of this year, Mauk was dismissed by Mizzou, three days after he was suspended when a video showing a person who appeared to be Mauk snorting what appeared to be a line of cocaine. That marked Mauk’s third suspension in four months.
Mauk was suspended in late September of last year for violating unspecified team rules. After missing four games, he was reinstated. Less than a week after his reinstatement, he was suspended for the remainder of the 2015 season. That suspension allegedly stemmed from an off-campus incident involving the player and an unidentified male outside of a downtown Columbia drinking establishment.
In late December, new Mizzou head coach Barry Odom reinstated Mauk before being forced to dismiss the quarterback a month later. Five months later, he landed at EKU.
Mauk was the starting quarterback on the Tigers’ 2014 SEC East title squad after starting a handful of games for the 2013 East title team. He attempted just 110 passes in that truncated 2015 season that again saw him begin the year as the starting quarterback.
