IU quarterback Kurtis Rourke’s on playing through injuries, to be ready by training camp
Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke speaks to the media at the 2025 NFL combine.
The San Francisco 49ers picked former Indiana football quarterback Kurtis Rourke with the No. 227 overall pick in the seventh round of the 2025 NFL Draft on Saturday night.
He’s only the ninth quarterback in program history to get drafted and the first since Washington picked Nate Sudfeld with the No. 187 pick in 2016. Rourke is also the first Canadian-born quarterback drafted since New York picked Jesse Palmer in 2001.
The milestone further etched Rourke’s name in IU’s record books.
While he only played one season for the Hoosiers, he set a single-season passing record with 29 touchdowns and was just the fifth player in program history to throw for 3,000-plus yards (3,042). He also led the nation in passing efficiency with a rating of 181.4 while completing 69.4% of his passes.
Kurtis Rourke gets NFL opportunity despite injury setback
Rourke played the entire 2024 season for Indiana on a torn ACL.
He wasn’t at risk of doing damage to his knee while playing at less than 100%, but the injury did derail his chance to showcase his talent in front of teams during the pre-draft process. Rourke was a spectator at the combine — he did get to meet with various teams — and remained sidelined for various pro day appearances
“The best thing you can do is to listen to your body,” Rourke told reporters at the Colts’ local pro day. “Throughout the season, I was grateful enough to be able to play through a lot of soreness and injuries. I’m just happy that I didn’t get an MRI until after the season. I was able to play and get that tape on film.”
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Rourke has been cleared to throw and is expected to be full-go for training camp. It’s a similar timeline to when he came back from a torn ACL that he suffered at the end of the 2022 season.
Rourke was in the starting lineup for Ohio’s Week 0 game the following year.
Kurtis Rourke takes winding road to realize his NFL aspirations
After a series of twists and turns, Rourke initially signed with Ohio coming out of Holy Trinity in Ontario. He was an under-the-radar prospect, but the Bobcats expressed interest in him thanks to the success his brother Nathan had at the school.
The Rourkes ended up holding down the starting job at Ohio for the better part of a decade. The success Kurtis had in 2022 as the MAC Offensive Player of the Year opened up doors for him that weren’t previously available when landed in the transfer portal two years later.
His impressive resume put him firmly on Curt Cignetti’s radar. Cignetti, who was only a couple weeks into his tenure as IU’s coach, was seeking a veteran to run his offense..
“We were full go on Kurtis as soon as we did the research,” Cignetti said.
The decision set the stage for Indiana’s best-ever season — the Hoosiers won double-digit games for the first team and made their first-ever playoff appearance — while finishing with the second-ranked scoring offense (41.3 points per game) in the country.
Why Kurtis Rourke was a fit for the San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan is giving his quarterback room behind starter Brock Purdy a bit of a makeover. The 49ers moved on from Purdy’s backups last year — Brandon Allen and Josh Dobbs — and signed former New England quarterback Mac Jones to a two-year deal in the offseason.
Shanahan, who found gold at the position in the seventh round with drafting Purdy in 2022, likes to carry three quarterbacks on the roster, and Rourke is someone that can push Jones for the backup spot.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
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