Thomas Benjamin Savage (born April 26, 1990) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Rutgers, Arizona, and Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Houston Texans in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
Early life
Savage was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania on April 26, 1990, to Linda and Tom Savage. His older brother, Bryan, played quarterback at Wisconsin and Hofstra.
At Cardinal O'Hara High School, Savage was a member of the Lions football team for four years and started at quarterback for three. He threw for 1,355 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior.
College career
Savage enrolled at Rutgers University in 2009 under head coach Greg Schiano. After Rutgers opened the season with a 45–17 loss to Cincinnati, Savage was named the starting quarterback. He led the team to a 9–4 record. During his freshman year at Rutgers, Savage passed for 2,211 yards and 14 touchdowns, while throwing only seven interceptions. In arguably his best game of the year, he completed 14-of-27 passes for a season-high 294 yards and two touchdowns against the University of Central Florida in a 45–24 victory in the 2009 St. Petersburg Bowl. He was named on the All-American Freshman Team by the Football Writers Association of America.
In the 2010 season, Savage threw for 521 passing yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions. Early in the season, he was sidelined by a hand injury and replaced with freshman quarterback Chas Dodd. Dodd remained the starting quarterback based on his performance against Connecticut in his first ever start. On January 8, 2011, Savage announced he would transfer from Rutgers University. Rutgers granted Savage a conditional release. In February 2011, he announced that he was transferring to Arizona. Savage missed the 2011 season due to NCAA transfer rules, but was eligible to play in 2012.
Late in 2011, Savage announced his departure from Arizona, a move which followed the announcement that Arizona had hired Rich Rodriguez as head coach. Savage later transferred to Pittsburgh, where he redshirted in 2012. Savage initially wanted to play at Rutgers again; however, a hardship waiver was denied by the NCAA.
On August 14, 2013, Pitt head coach Paul Chryst officially named Savage the starting quarterback for the 2013 season opener against Florida State. On September 21 against Duke, he threw for 424 yards and six touchdowns in the 58–55 victory. Savage finished the season with 2,958 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and nine interceptions.
Savage majored in communications.
College statistics
Professional career
In the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, Savage was drafted 135th overall by the Houston Texans. He was the seventh quarterback to be selected that year.
Houston Texans
2014 season: Rookie year
On May 15, 2014, Savage signed a four-year contract with the Texans.
During a Week 13 45-21 victory over the Tennessee Titans, Savage made his NFL debut and had two kneel-down plays. Two weeks later, he had his first significant playing time after Ryan Fitzpatrick broke his leg against the Indianapolis Colts. Savage finished the 17–10 loss completing 10 of 19 pass attempts for 127 yards and an interception.
2015 season
On September 5, 2015, Savage was placed on injured reserve by the Texans with a shoulder injury. Due to his injury, Savage saw no playing time in 2015.
2016 season
On December 18, 2016, Savage entered the Week 15 matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second quarter after starter Brock Osweiler was benched after throwing for 48 yards and back-to-back first-half interceptions. Savage brought the Texans back from a 13–0 deficit and completed 23-of-36 passes for 260 yards as he led the Texans to a narrow 21–20 comeback victory. Savage was named the starter for the Week 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. In that game, he completed 18 of 29 passes for 176 yards in the narrow 12–10 victory, clinching the AFC South title for the Texans. During the regular-season finale against Tennessee Titans, Savage completed five of eight passes for 25 yards before leaving the eventual 24-17 road loss in the second quarter with an apparent concussion, but later returned to the game for one play, which was a kneel down at the end of the half. During halftime, he was re-evaluated for a concussion and ruled out for the rest of the game.
