(AP photo)

By Tyler Barto
Twitter: @Tyler_Barto
tbarto@trentonian.com

He didn't get taken as high as some pre-draft speculation whispered, but former Rutgers quarterback Tom Savage was an asset on one draft board Saturday, when he was taken in the fourth round.

Savage, the highest-rated quarterback recruit in Rutgers history, is now a Houston Texan.

Talk of Savage's pre-draft workouts gained so much steam that talk emerged of the Pittsburgh quarterback reaching the early second round.

That didn't happen. But ESPN analyst Todd McShay said before the draft he saw plenty of NFL throws in his one season at Pitt.

"He was a tougher evaluation because early you just see a lot of failure," McShay said. "You see a lot of question marks in terms of his past, and there were some question marks in terms of his off the field and intangibles."

ESPN's Jon Gruden called Savage "one of the great American mysteries," none of which was greater than figuring out his draft stock.

Savage transferred from Rutgers in 2010 after an injury-plagued sophomore season. He left Arizona a year later and sat out a total of two years between starts. 

He tried to return to Piscataway this season, but the NCAA denied his hardship waiver.