Tom Savage was wearing a Hofstra football t-shirt (brother Bryan is the starting QB for the Pride) and a black Phillies hat yesterday, not one of the green practice jerseys adorned by Rutgers' six quarterbacks. 

It will be a full year before Savage -- the quarterback considered by some the biggest recruiting find in Rutgers history -- can join the Scarlet Knights in real life. So until then, he'll continue playing -- as Rutgers -- in his NCAA PlayStation game against Cardinal O'Hara High School teammate Corey Brown. 

Savage, who watched practice Friday at Rutgers Stadium, has been serving for the past several months as an unofficial recruiting assistant to coach Greg Schiano, lobbying fellow high school players to come to Piscataway. 

And he's had plenty of success. Nearly every recruit that has joined the Knights' heralded recruiting class since Savage committed last spring has sited Savage's commitment -- or conversations they've had with him -- as a reason for choosing Rutgers. Trenton's Abdul Smight, for instance, said a text message from Savage helped convince him to chose Rutgers over Pittsburgh, Maryland and Boston College. 

He's in full-force recruiting mode with Brown, a rising junior who's considered one of the top running back prospects in the class of 2010. 

Brown, he said, is constantly over his house in Springfield, Pa. playing video games and talking about college football. 

"He's over my house every day playing NCAA," Savage said. "I'm using Rutgers and pounding on him. He uses everyone. He's just that kind of kid. He'll play receivers at quarterback and just let them run around back there" 

Savage said he's "absolutely" trying to convince Brown to come to Rutgers, and that the early indications are Rutgers has a head start on schools like Penn State, Pittsburgh, Maryland and Illinois. 

"He loves it here," Savage said. "He likes it a lot."