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1. Protect David Ash Every 2014 season outlook seems is prefaced with "If David Ash stays healthy...." Part of that plan will be executed with an offense reminiscent the 2012 Horns, with a slower pace, heavy motioning, and reliance on the run game. Another step is Ash making a point to protect himself by not taking defenders head on. But the biggest impact will be felt by the offensive line now led by OC/OL coach Joe Wickline. The line will need to show it is a completely different unit than the squad that couldn't withstand three man pressure against BYU last fall, the game in which David Ash frequently scrambled before taking one too many hits, ending his season with a concussion. Ideally, I'd love to see 0 sacks and little need for David Ash to buy time with his feet. And that goal isn't entirely unreasonable to ask of the Horns, as the North Texas defensive front is fairly small. Despite the Mean Green being a top 25 team for sacks in 2013, they lose the majority of the front seven that produced those numbers. Kennedy Estelle will need to show he's a stabilizing force on the left side, and one of the options behind suspended Desmond Harrison will need to step up in his stead, whether it's Darius James, Marcus Hutchins, or Jake Raulerson. Read more: http://www.burntorangenation.com/2014/8/27/6072843/what-im-looking-for-against-the-mean-green-longhorns-defense-special-teams

AUSTIN – Texas quarterback David Ash had a message to fans worried about his health going into Saturday’s season opener against UNT. "Don't hold your breath for too long,” Ash said today. “If I get hit, I'll be fine." Ash had his 2013 season ended by the lingering symptoms of a concussion and his spring practice curtailed by a broken foot. He still leads all returning Big 12 quarterbacks with 21 career starts. More than a few times during his recovery from the concussion, fans asked about quitting. Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-longhorns/20140825-qb-david-ash-tries-to-calm-texas-fears-if-i-get-hit-i-ll-be-fine.ece

Texas quarterback David Ash has heard the comments and filtered through the feedback on social media. He knows lots of well-meaning individuals believe he should have punted his favorite sport after missing 10 of the Longhorns 13 football games last season because of concussion-related issues. A lot of people told me, You need to give it up. You need to quit, said Ash, who acknowledged having multiple heart-to-heart talks with his mother about his return to the Longhorns this season. In my mind, I always knew I was always going to play again. That is because every time someone urged Ash to become a former athlete, he reflected on the story of an Olympic gold medalist he admires: Eric Liddell, the son of Scottish missionaries who represented Great Britain in the 1924 Summer Games in Paris. Liddell, a devout Christian whose story is depicted in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, won medals in the 400-meter dash (gold) and 200-meter dash (bronze). But he refused to compete in his best event, the 100-meter dash, because one of the qualifying heats fell on a Sunday. Liddell declined to run on the Sabbath because of his religious convictions. Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/08/24/6064497/david-ash-focused-on-quieting.html#storylink=cpy

AUSTIN - Charlie Strong changed the culture. With swiftness and fanfare, he trimmed the roster and rewrote the rulebook. He overhauled practice and removed off-campus living privileges. He ripped out the smoothie bar and peeled off the helmet decals. What the new football coach at the University of Texas couldn't change, however, was a simple, unmistakable truth. No matter how much discipline Strong could mete out or how much toughness he could instill in eight months, the Longhorns' hopes for success in his first season still fall inordinately on the shoulders of one man. Quarterback David Ash knows this. If he didn't before a candid meeting this summer with Strong's top offensive assistant, Shawn Watson, he does now. "As you go, our team goes," Watson told Ash. "If you're right, we're right." Read more: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/longhorns/article/UT-s-success-hinges-on-Ash-s-injury-prone-body-5702110.php#/0

The difference between a player returning to play from a broken bone or a pulled muscle or even a ligament tear is that there are medical tests that can be done to prove a player is ready to return. When it comes to concussions, you never know until you know. Ash said the concussion he suffered against BYU last Sept. 6 is the kind that can linger for a long time. It forced Ash to be away from the team for most of the fall and to be on his own, but he said he's put it all behind him and he's moving forward. Longhorn fans unfortunately don't have that luxury of being able to forget what happened to Ash last season, and even the coaches don't know how he'll react until he takes that first big hit of the 2014 season. Read more: http://texas.247sports.com/Article/30-in-30-Should-David-Ash-be-hit-in-Texas-Longhorns-practice-30189353

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas quarterback David Ash settled in to his seat and was quickly surrounded by a throng of reporters that included nine television cameras and even more microphones pushing toward his face. “It’s good to be back,” Ash said as if he loved the attention. “Did you miss me?” Ash never used to look comfortable facing all the cameras and the questions that come with them, but the relief that comes with knowing that he will be playing football again was clear Monday, even if he still had to talk about his head and whether he should have quit the game after concussion symptoms wiped out most of his 2013 season. Ash hadn’t spoken publicly since before Texas lost at BYU in the second game last season when he suffered concussion in the second half. He tried to return two weeks later against Kansas State but lasted only one half before he was sidelined again. He spent much of the rest of the season watching from afar. Sometimes, Texas officials wouldn’t even let him stand under the bright lights of the stadium. Now Ash has been cleared by team doctors for full participation — hits and all — in training camp. “I’m so thankful I get to do this. Nothing’s guaranteed and I for sure learned that. I feel so blessed that I get another opportunity to play this game,” Ash said. read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/texas-longhorns/20140804-texas-qb-david-ash-giving-up-football-was-suggested-but-i-didn-t-consider-it.ece

Just one day after he was cleared to return to full practices, David Ash was named the starting quarterback of the Texas Longhorns by first-year head coach Charlie Strong on Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days, reports Taylor Gaspar of Rivals. Ash was the starting quarterback going into last season, but his campaign was cut short by a concussion. He played in only three games, throwing for 760 yards and seven touchdowns with two interceptions. After the season was complete, Ash was granted a medical redshirt. Read more: http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/07/22/texas-football-david-ash-starting-quarterback-charlie-strong

The Texas Longhorns offense is back at full strength for coach Charlie Strong's first season at the helm. Quarterback David Ash and running back Johnathan Gray were medically cleared to practice Monday, along with linebacker Jordan Hicks, reports Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman. Read more: http://www.si.com/college-football/2014/07/21/texas-longhorns-quarterback-david-ash-cleared-practice

With spring practice now nearly a month in the rearview mirror, the answer to the first question was disappointingly answered to the negative, as the fractured left foot that Ash suffered a week before the spring game meant that he could not stay healthy for the spring, even though most reports did hold that he had mostly returned to his pre-concussion form. Ash's availability for the fall is now somewhat in question because his Jones fracture has a 25% chance of not healing in the ideal timeframe, not to mention the continued concerns about the long-term impact another concussion could have on his career. And it appears the second question has also been answered, also to the negative in terms of the best-case scenario that was laid out in that post, which would feature a healthy Ash on campus, backed up by Wittek. For the third question, the news continues to be negative. There was probably some growth for Swoopes mechanically during the spring, but after overthrowing Jaxon Shipley twice in the first half of the Orange-White game on would-be touchdown passes and throwing an interception on his first pass attempt, the consensus take on Swoopes is that he's still not ready to play. Read more: http://www.burntorangenation.com/football/2014/5/15/5721824/texas-longhorns-quartebacks-max-wittek-david-ash-jerrod-heard