A little over two weeks after official word surfaced that he would be transferring from Rutgers, Tom Savage has yet to decide exactly where he will continue his post-Scarlet Knights collegiate career.
And, from the sound of it, it could be a few weeks -- if not months -- before the quarterback settles on a new football home.
The sophomore told the Newark Star-Ledger that he will be taking the semester off from school and likely won’t make a decision on his next destination until spring time. Instead of prepping for spring practice at another school, Savage will spend his time working out and trying to make a better decision on a school than he apparently thinks he did the first time around.
“I want to make sure it’s the right place this time,” Savage told the paper.
“I think what I’m going to do is take a mid-year exception and make my decision in the spring. That’s my plan as of now.”
As we wrote earlier this month, Savage was a Freshman All-American in 2009 and started the first four games of the 2010 season. He lost his starting job to freshman Chas Dodd due in part to injuries and in part because off utter ineffectiveness — he wasn’t even ranked among the top 100 quarterbacks in the country in pass efficiency when Dodd passed him on the depth chart.
Based on his play the season before last, and given his “prototypical” size -- 6-4, 225 pounds -- he likely won’t be lacking for suitors, however. And Div. 1-AA schools need not apply as Savage told the paper that he will transfer to a Div. 1-A school, which means that, regardless of where he lands, he’ll be forced to sit out the 2011 season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules.
As for where he may end up, he’s a Pennsylvania native, and Penn State and Pittsburgh offered him a scholarship during the recruiting phase, so those two schools may be an option. We’ve been told that the Panthers’ hiring of Todd Graham has very much intrigued Savage despite his public reticence to address future destinations.
Georgia, Tennessee, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Louisville and Florida State were among myriad schools that offered during his recruitment.