Tom Savage Freshman Stats. What happens if he stayed ?
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Better question to me is what would've happened if Greg had the vision to convert Sanu to a full-time dual-threat QB? He was incredibly athletic with a great arm and good accuracy and in today's game I think he'd be a QB, but back then many teams were still reluctant to go that route. We had a suite of quality skill players and defenses would've really struggled to contain a full-blown wide open offense with Sanu running it.
I've told this story before. When I spoke to Jeff Hafley after his game vs RU that year, he said Savage was the most talented QB their staff had faced, and he was a sure fire 1st rounder. So, that should give you some level of understanding of how badly we ruined him.
You are clueless, the only thing that ruined Savage was a domineering girlfriend that Tom couldn’t say no to & thus he didn’t practice during the summer instead he spent the time on the beach in Avalon
The 2010 OL play was hideous
Schiano and crew just couldn't recruit OL
Every year there were too many WR/RB/ATH to know what to with but OL were crumbs on the plate
Savage was a pocket passing Pro Set with no pocket
2010 set a D1 record for sacks allowed
Schiano and crew just couldn't recruit OL
Every year there were too many WR/RB/ATH to know what to with but OL were crumbs on the plate
Savage was a pocket passing Pro Set with no pocket
2010 set a D1 record for sacks allowed
Once again, revisionist history. Savage himself has come out and admitted he made a major mistake leaving. The problems he had his sophomore year were of his own making.
That's extremely misleading. KC switched over to a spread offense in 2010, and every starting O linemen had been recruited for a pro style offense. @yesrutgers01 has stated that on multiple occasions.
Actually- most of the successful guys on the OL previously thought Younger Stapleton was going to be very good- and a couple of other guys that did start would be better. This is from successful IL, not coaches. And we had to move a good OL at OT and OG to Center.
Savage sucked in the pocket on top of that.
That said- we now know he was NFL material. Schiano and crew had recruited Ol well, until the OL became good and Greg got complacent with it
If it's a Tom Savage thread, need to make the following obligatory post:
BTW- if it was Tom here anywhere from 05-08
His stats would have been insane.,,
His stats would have been insane.,,
Rutgers was dead last for sacks allowed (61 and 120th in nation) a D1 all-time record at the time.
But - RU couldn't run block either - 111th in nation
I played OL and RU OL in 2010 was worst I ever saw in college
Seemed that every prior year, RU's top OL targets went to other teams at end of recruiting
I always checked OL recruiting "success" and it was very thin around 2010 years.
Not that I don't blame KC because he was fired that year despite Schiano defending him half the season
But there were so many skill players (dime a dozen) recruited that RU didn't know how to use them.
I remember GS trying to find work for Deering and he got used like spackle.
I remember reading an article about Deering being arrested and the first sentence told all
"Jeremy Deering saw action at wide receiver, running back, safety, kick returner and as a Wildcat quarterback in four seasons from 2010-13" - spackle.
Former Rutgers player Jeremy Deering arrested on grand theft, fraud charges
Three years removed from playing a key role on the Rutgers football team, Jeremy Deering was arrested and booked on grand theft and fraud charges in his Florida home town last week.
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He was Freshman AA at QB and that's a miracle for a 1st year QB at a QB demo yard like RU.
Unfortunately Tom was big and fragile, and between ribs, concussion, elbow etc he played little in 2010.
Tom behind RU's 2010 OL was epic mismatch and I consider 2010 one of worst CFB seasons I ever saw - partly do to the things like EL and the bridge jumper/video scandal at RU (place was in national news all season) . Just a nightmare all around - team was in a fog after Army game.
To answer the original question, we go to a BCS game in 2012.
The 2010 OL was a mix of many errors. We hit on some very good to GREAT OL in the years prior to 2010. 05- - you got Haslam and Ryan B, 07, AD and I believe Howie B, 08- was that the Forst and Ruch year?Rutgers was dead last for sacks allowed (61 and 120th in nation) a D1 all-time record at the time.
But - RU couldn't run block either - 111th in nation
I played OL and RU OL in 2010 was worst I ever saw in college
Seemed that every prior year, RU's top OL targets went to other teams at end of recruiting
I always checked OL recruiting "success" and it was very thin around 2010 years.
Not that I don't blame KC because he was fired that year despite Schiano defending him half the season
But there were so many skill players (dime a dozen) recruited that RU didn't know how to use them.
I remember GS trying to find work for Deering and he got used like spackle.
I remember reading an article about Deering being arrested and the first sentence told all
"Jeremy Deering saw action at wide receiver, running back, safety, kick returner and as a Wildcat quarterback in four seasons from 2010-13" - spackle.
Former Rutgers player Jeremy Deering arrested on grand theft, fraud charges
Three years removed from playing a key role on the Rutgers football team, Jeremy Deering was arrested and booked on grand theft and fraud charges in his Florida home town last week.www.nj.com
But- you get the point...But in 2010- what happened was we lose Haslam and AD to NFL rosters- Ryan B to camp and pro football. Forst- was never as good as advertised and while Ruch was OK- he would have been 2nd string on most of our rosters.
Greg had decided that with back to back AD/Art Forst years- he could skim by with the OL and go heavy on DL and just convert DL to OL if he had too.
This left us super thin at OL when AD leaves early, Haslam finishes his college career and Ryan B is replaced by Howie B only because we had no other center. Howie could have been a pretty solid OT. But was the worst C I have ever seen in my life- Howie- if reading, I love ya buddy. But you got screwed.
If you all remember- GS 1.0 took a couple of years off of recruiting OL- which made no sense as we were starting to get a great OL legacy.
GS 1.0 also started to get caught up in stars vs getting the best possible college players s well. His recruiting rank went up but somehow- the players were not as successful.
The 2005 class was low ranked but maybe one of the most successful classes we ever had and Greg should have stuck with that.
He doesn’t
That’s a totally made up narrative
I remember Forst as overrated player - one of the big guys who dominated in HS but didn't really max-up in cfc
The fact the GS could often have a weak attitude to OL is a reason his offenses usually are weak. He got lucky a few years and then OL got neglected.
Recollect the OL recruits from 2009 and 2008
https://rutgers.rivals.com/commitments/football/2009
Three "ATH" recruits in each class with only two OL in each class.
Couple of the ATH players were good but four OL at the time was a weak link
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My sons gf & Tom’s gf went to hs together & both couples spent most of the summer on the same beach in Avalon, while Tom was supposed to be at RU practicing with his teammates
It was pretty widely known. Even as a younger alum at the time, I had heard it from undergrads.
It’s funny- on a week that Jacksonville had a bye- I picked up my son from the airport. I told him the Savage had been replaced by Dodd. His reaction was of complete shock. Pretty much that whoever replaced him must be the best QB Rutgers has ever seen…
In 2010- anyone would have but Tom had horrible pocket awareness
Even in 2009- the OL was calling Tom “ The Sack Maker”
So often, they would hold their block and push their guy exactly where they were supposed to, only to find Tom in the wrong place, wrong time
Yes, he's right. This has been confirmed from multiple sources, beginning in the spring of his freshman year TS bailed on his teammates. As I stated above, even TS acknowledged his mistakes, so what's the use in rehashing it?
Fell victim to early success. Not the first. Won’t be the last.
Interestingly enough, a few years after the fact, I heard from 2 journalists that Dodd outplayed Savage in summer camp, but Schiano was loyal and stuck with Savage as the starter.
Quite a point buried in there. Scrappy, undersized red head beats out the guy who looks like he was created in a QB lab proving yet again, hard work eats undisciplined talent for breakfast.
We screwed up big time.... Tom Savage and Saquon Barkley are my biggest what could have changed. Sanu running Tim Tebow's offense is another. A safety unit consisting of Mohamed Sanu and Will Hill was a bigger dream.
Dodd Won BE Offensive Player of the Week for his first start (UConn).
Nova was safe even with 4 and 5 INT games.
I thought Dodd got a bad deal at RU
During Sanu's records setting WR season Schiano said his best position was still safety.
He would have been close to HOF material.
He was fast, hit like a train and had great hands - one on one the DBs rarely won contested balls with Sanu
He was a freshman in 2009 - who made freshman AA
DC Jefferson was moved to TE to block in 2009.
RU gave-up 40 sacks in 2009 - 7th from last in nation
Tom did have poor pocket awareness and RU was a bad place to be for someone with that.
I think some of the problems with RU recruiting went back to 2008 media ambush as season began.
GS being a triumvirate with Bob Mulcahy and McCormick was a great boost to RU football
Alas in 2008 McCormick weaseled-out (as colleges presidents consistently do) and it cost Mulcahy his job.
Greg is a loyal guy and that episode was a reality check for him
If Savage stayed we would have quickly become the most powerful program in the East and ultimately Big Ten, so much so that we would break away and create a new conference "Rutgers and Friends" including us, OSU, Michigan, USC, Alabama, Texas, LSU, and SMU (they pay Rutgers 100mm a year for the privilege and receive no revenue). The "Rutgers and Friends" rights deal would put all Rutgers games on all channels - broadcast/ cable/ Netflix/ Amazon/ Youtube at all times - 24/7 the only breaks would be Gerry Dinardo telling viewers "you may use the restroom now." A statue of Schiano visible from space would be erected on the par 4 2nd hole of the Rutgers golf course - adding a shot makers element to an already sneaky challenging hole.
Dodd actually fit the 2010 offense much better than Savage. The 2010 OL, while not good at all- also fit a pro set much better as well.
But think about that- an NFL QB beat out because of the type of offense we were trying to run.
Makes me think of other coaches who find a future NFL QB on their team...Perfect example: UCF with Bortles- They rode him to a ton of success. We have Savage and we ride him out instead. lol
They were two different offenses. Savage was ask to make NFL caliber throws to windows, while chase was asked to dink and dunk. There is a huge difference. Savage actually exposed the bs his final game at RU. Run that tape back. 😉
the entire scheme was so f-ed up in 2010- Every single player on that team except Sanu was a pro set player.
