It would have been nice to chat with Ben Mauk this week, but the Cincinnati quarterback with a great story and great numbers this season didn’t grant interview requests to media covering the opposition. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…

Mauk’s been a hit in his one and only season with the Bearcats and has shown himself to be the capable trigger man in the no-huddle, spread offense. The scary part is that he’s just now hitting his stride.

Eleven weeks into the season, Ben Mauk can finally make it through a full practice. His timing is perfect.

The quarterback dubbed “Bionic Ben” because of all the metal in his passing arm is rounding into form with the two biggest games ahead. No. 21 Cincinnati (8-2) plays No. 5 West Virginia (8-1) on Saturday in a game with Big East title implications.

Mauk broke his throwing arm last season playing for Wake Forest and transferred to Cincinnati this season because of the offense, but also because it was close to his home in Kenton, Ohio. That was important to Mauk because he was a pretty big deal in high school. In fact, he was downright prolific and broke a record that once mattered a whole lot in our state.

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.