It has been reported by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero that Kurtis Rourke is having ACL revision surgery next Wednesday after playing the entire 2024 season with a re-torn ACL, the same ACL the former Indiana quarterback tore back in 2022 when he played for the Ohio Bobcats.
Both Indiana fans and the college football world are astonished at Rourke's toughness and ability to play through such a tough injury and still lead his team to their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance. It is crazy to think that this injury didn't completely hinder Rourke's play, but a few things are beginning to make sense.
Going back and looking at photos, in Indiana's spring game, Rourke's first appearance in front of Hoosier fans, he wasn't wearing a brace on the knee he injured back in 2022. However, looking at the pictures from Indiana's first game of the season against FIU, Rourke was then wearing a big bulky brace on that knee.
Thinking back, the timeline seems to add up.
— Jared Kelly (@Jared_Kelly7) January 3, 2025
During Indiana's spring game (1st photo), no knee brace on Rourke's right leg. During the season opener vs. FIU (2nd photo), big, bulky knee brace that Rourke wore for the entire season.
Unbelievably tough. #iufb https://t.co/w4vyd9aDAo pic.twitter.com/RVEdIKTXpS
Now, some probably would have just thought he tweaked the knee he injured a couple of years ago and needed a brace to help his mobility, but in reality, he was probably wearing it because of the re-torn ACL.
Now of course with news like this, it can't be helped that the question will be asked, "what could have been?"
Clearly, Rourke was still able to lead Indiana to an incredible season, but looking at Rourke's stats, his mobility was clearly hindered by the injury. In his final three seasons at Ohio, Rourke ran for a combined 795 yards on 215 rushing attempts and 11 rushing touchdowns. In contrast, in his one season with the Hoosiers, Rourke ran the ball just 46 times and ended the season with -35 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns.
Now, yes, some of those negative yards come from sacks, but if Rourke didn't have a lot of mobility on that knee, evading pressure would have been something tough for Rourke to do. So looking at the season and the two losses that Indiana suffered, they faced tow very tough defenses, who are great at rushing the quarterback.
Had Rourke had a bit more mobility on that knee, who knows, maybe Indiana would have had a better chance against Ohio State and Notre Dame and potentially could have beat the Fighting Irish in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
With new information, there will always be "what ifs," but Indiana still had an incredible season led by an incredibly tough quarterback, and that is something every Indiana fan can be proud of.