The Texas Longhorns season just took an interesting turn. The Charlie Strong era got off to a great start with a convincing win over North Texas, with David Ash under center. The quarterback missed most of last season with concussion issues but played the opener despite taking some big hits in the game.
It looks like one of those big hits has brought back up those concussion issues for Ash, and he will miss at least the following game against Brigham Young University.
Charlie Strong just announced that David Ash will not play this week because of a hit he took in the North Texas game.
— Geoff Ketchum (@gkketch) September 1, 2014
Apparently concussion symptoms didn’t show up till later.
Texas QB David Ash won't play vs BYU after taking a hit in the North Texas game and showing (concussion) symptoms later.
— Chip Brown (@ChipBrown247) September 1, 2014
Ash was OK when he left DKR after the game, according to Strong. But the training staff got a call in the middle of the night.
— Brian Davis (@BDavisUT) September 1, 2014
The Longhorns don’t appear to have ignored any symptoms from Ash, and apparently Ash didn’t experience any symptoms until later.
Strong said Ash left the stadium fine on Saturday but reported injury symptoms later that night. Swoopes will be the starter as of now.
— Daily Texan Sports (@texansports) September 1, 2014
To clarify, Strong says Ash didn't have symptoms during game. But Ash said later he thought it came from the first hit.
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) September 1, 2014
It is concerning for Ash, who has now suffered at least his third concussion in a calendar year that will cause him to miss playing time. The Longhorns had to go to great lengths to protect Ash last year, including keeping him out of the stadium and away from bright lights. Strong said they weren’t going to risk Ash’s health given his injury history, and while it sounds like they’ve only ruled him out for one game, more could be in jeopardy.
At the same time, since they’re only ruling him out for one game at the moment and he finished the game with symptoms not showing up until later, it could mean that this head injury isn’t as severe as those he suffered in 2013.
Strong: "We would never jeopardize a young man's health for the good of the football team."
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) September 1, 2014
The Texas Longhorns in the mean time have named Tyrone Swoopes the starter, but could rotate in other quarterbacks as well.
Swoopes is the starter. No decisions on how quarterbacks will rotate. Strong: "We can function. It's not like it's the end of the world."
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) September 1, 2014
Strong: "It's not like it's the end of the world here, guys. We know we have to go play a football game."
— Brian Davis (@BDavisUT) September 1, 2014