Upon visiting Nebraska's campus in November 2002 and being heavily recruited by head coach Frank Solich, he signed a letter of intent to play for the Huskers in spring of 2003. David earned a spot that fall as a true starter on Solich's offensive line. He was the fifth true freshman in Nebraska's history to ever do so. His offensive teammates that year included Jammal Lord and his roommate Cory Ross. Despite a knee injury that sidelined him in late season, the Cornhuskers went on to win the Alamo Bowl his first year against Michigan State. Austin retained his starting offensive line role throughout his tenure at Nebraska as they reclaimed victory two years later at the Alamo Bowl against Michigan. This time, it was under new head coach Bill Callahan. In his final year, the Huskers, including starting running back and roommate Brandon Jackson, fell in a close game to Auburn in the 2007 Cotton Bowl Classic. He graduated in 2007 from Nebraska with a Bachelors in Business Administration. Other teammates included Titus Adams, Joe Dailey, Sam Koch, Carl Nicks, Ndamukong Suh, Barrett Ruud, Zac Taylor, and Fabian Washington. Shortly after graduating from Nebraska, under the tutelage of Richard Lapchick and Richard DeVos, David enrolled at the University of Central Florida where he studied under the DeVos Sports Management Program. Austin credited Lapchick and DeVos on matriculating to UCF by saying their societal contributions, "really drew me in, and from there, I knew it was bigger than me." He graduated from UCF in 2009 with dual master's degrees in business sports management.
Coaching career
Early career
Austin's coaching career began shortly after graduating from UCF where he also worked as an event manager for Disney's Wide World of Sports. He took an intern graduate assistant coaching position at both Mesabi Range College and later Wayne State University. At both schools, he assisted with the offensive line as an intern coach.
Oregon
In mid-2010, Austin received an offer to join Chip Kelly's coaching staff as a graduate assistant intern for the University of Oregon. Known by players and coaches alike as "Coach G," David helped coached the offensive line under the guidance of offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich. Although he started as a coaching intern in with Oregon, Austin was later promoted to, and remained, graduate assistant offensive coach the following year. When Austin came on board, the 2010 Ducks where 12-0 in regular season play and went on to win the Pac-10 Conference title, the first undefeated and untied regular season in the school's 117-year football history. They went on to play against Heisman winnerCam Newton and the Auburn Tigers for the 2011 BCS National Championship in the Fiesta Bowl, but narrowly lost by a field goal towards the end of regulation. For the next two years, Austin and the Ducks would go on to retain the conference title in 2011, win the 2012 Rose Bowl and 2013 Fiesta Bowl with 12–2 and 12–1 records, respectively. This accumulates a 36-4 record while Austin was with the Ducks. During an Oregon News interview, Austin said, "winning the Rose Bowl was one of the funnest moments I ever had on the field."
