When David Ash, Texas’s starting quarterback, quit football in 2014, he said he had to do it for his health: Ash had suffered a season-ending concussion in 2013, then suffered another season-ending concussion in the first game of 2014.
So it came as a surprise this week when Ash announced that he plans to return to football and hopes he gets drafted.
Ash will participate in Texas’s Pro Day this month, and he says he has been given medical clearance to play again. But just because Ash’s doctor says he can play, that doesn’t mean NFL team doctors will agree. No doctor can ever say with any degree of certainty whether any individual player will or won’t suffer a concussion at some point in the future, but when a player has suffered season-ending concussions in each of his last two games, any team doctor is going to be incredibly cautious about clearing him on the team’s draft board.
There’s also the fact that Ash wasn’t considered a great pro prospect even before he suffered those concussions. It’s one thing to take a medical risk on a guy with can’t-miss talent. It’s another thing to take a risk on a guy who might not make it even if he stays healthy.
Add it all up, and it seems unlikely that Ash has a future in the NFL. But he’s going to give it his best shot.