Texas Football: David Ash and the Keys to the Longhorn Offense

When it comes to the quarterback situation, I don't think any of us expected to see what transpired over the 2011 season. I was the first in the nation to report the transfer of Connor Wood and among the few when it came to the rise of current commit Connor Brewer, but I was one of many that had mentioned the idea of Garrett Gilbert transferring to be pure fiction. Oops.

Regardless, Gilbert transferred from the program leaving Mack Brown and Bryan Harsin with two quarterbacks that have practically no experience. For Gilbert to transfer, it must have been obvious to him that he had no place in the Harsin offense. Bryan knew what he was working with and made it public that they would create points through trick plays and the running game until Gilbert locked down the new offense. Through an average Rice game and terrible BYU showing, it became obvious that he was not going to be the answer to the questions all of us asked about the slacking Texas offense.

David Ash and Case McCoy shuffled through games while no player separated themselves from the other. Ash had a great air attack against Iowa State and was offensive MVP for the Holiday Bowl while Case McCoy exacted revenge on UCLA by tossing two touchdown passes and led the comeback against BYU and Texas A&M. It was no wonder that a true starter wasn't named until Ash surprised everyone in Austin as he was named the Holiday Bowl starter.

Kind of surprising after McCoy had thrown for over 350 yards and three touchdowns with four interceptions against Baylor but this shouldn't be a surprise to people who have followed Boise State's offense during the Harsin era. Jared Zabransky had a horrible junior year for the Broncos but was named the starter again for his senior year resulting in 20+ touchdown passes, single digit interceptions and a victory in one of the most talked about bowl games in college football history. Kellen Moore was named the starting quarterback as a redshirt freshman over many upperclassmen on the depth chart. Harsin has a history of trying to find a quarterback and sticking with him.

We can expect the same to happen next season as I believe you will see David Ash named the starter for the Wyoming game September 1st, 2012. I also expect Case McCoy to be the backup, Jalen Overstreet to be third string and to play the same role Ash played at the beginning of the season and Connor Brewer to redshirt.

Although he didn't have the greatest showing at the Under Armour game, I expect Brewer to be given a redshirt for this upcoming season. Many have said that he could potentially start next season but that would be a big mistake.

Don't mistake my desire for him to redshirt as a dismissal of his talents either. He's got great potential and like I said in my article last year about his abilities, he's a part of the future of the Longhorn offense. But throwing him into the fire like we did with Gilbert is not the right approach. Let him learn the offense while retaining his eligibility and he would compete for the starting gig in 2013.

Gilbert couldn't redshirt because Sherrod Harris was the only other quarterback on the roster and Ash couldn't have redshirted anyway with the resulting injury and transfer of Gilbert. Overstreet and McCoy are good enough to provide Ash with depth and allow him to spend next season working with Harsin.

Overstreet is too good to be left on the bench and he has tools that make him valuable. If Ash and the running game are able to satisfy Mack's desire for points then we might not see Overstreet play in the rotation role next fall and it would not surprise me to see McCoy transfer. Rumors have circulated that he is looking elsewhere to play football but has firmly stated on twitter that he is not leaving the program. I don't know how much stock you should put into any of these rumors but if I was a gambling man, I would say that Case remains a Longhorn.

If there is one thing we as fans would like to see it would be some stability. 2010 brought a lot of headache and heartache while 2011 brought confusion and uncertainty. We all want the days of Colt and Vince to return but we have to decide on a quarterback first and foremost and I expect David Ash to be the man with the keys to the offense next season.

Critics of Harsin and Ash have said that Texas just wasn't a very good offensive team and was no better in 2011 than they were in 2010. Nothing could be further from the truth as you'll see in this table:

	Passing Yards	Rushing Yards	Interceptions	Points Against Big 12
2010	2784	1806	17	154
2011	2469	2634	15	244

You can forgive the passing yards for being down this season as the rushing attack makes an astounding comeback. A total of eight players rushed for more than 100 yards, a number no Longhorn team has come close to in the past eight years. Texas scored almost 100 more points against Big 12 opponents this season; however, it wasn't enough to pull away from offensive showing from teams like Baylor and Oklahoma State.

Do you think David Ash is going to start next season? Is 2011 the last season McCoy wears burnt orange or will he be the number one guy in 2012? What do you think of Connor Brewer and Jalen Overstreet? Let me know in the comments.