Kurtis Rourke just might be another version of Clark Kent, who takes off his glasses and turns into Superman, with the latest news of his ACL injury.
Back in 2022, when Rourke was still in Ohio, he tore his ACL late in the season and was out for the final three games of the season. After a nine-month recovery, Rourke was back on the field in 2023 with the Bobcats and played the whole season before entering the transfer portal early in 2024.
As all Indiana fans know, Rourke chose to commit to the new head coach at the time, Curt Cignetti, and the Hoosiers to play his final season of college football. The 2024 season was a magical one for Indiana, with Cignetti and Rourke at the helm, who led the Hoosiers to their first-ever College Football Playoff appearance, but it all just became a bit more magical.
According to a report from NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Rourke, who has declared for the 2025 NFL Draft, is set to undergo ACL revision surgery next Wednesday because it is believed that he played the entire 2024 season with a re-torn ACL.
Indiana star QB Kurtis Rourke, a 2025 NFL Draft prospect, will undergo ACL revision surgery Wednesday, per his agent Casey Muir at @octagonfootball.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 3, 2025
Rourke is believed to have re-torn his ACL in August — yet amazingly played and led the Hoosiers to the playoff. One tough dude. pic.twitter.com/0bZze2ZMrC
It has been reported that Rourke re-tore his ACL back in August before the 2024 season even started, but he played through it for his team. So, to be clear, Rourke led Indiana to their most successful season ever, threw for 3,042 yards, the second most in a single season in his career, had 29 touchdown passes, was an All-Big Ten second-team selection, and set a new program single-season record with a 69.4% completion rate all on a torn ACL.
If this doesn't speak to the type of player and tough guy that Rourke is, then I don't know what would. While Rourke did play with a brace on his knee for the 2024 season, that was believed to be because of his ACL injury back in 2022. There was more concern for the thumb injury Rourke suffered during the season that he had to have surgery on and missed the game against Washington, but it never looked like his knee was the problem.
This is just another magical aspect of Kurtis Rourke that will go down as the best single-season by an Indiana player in program history. Now, as a 2025 NFL Draft prospect, Rourke will turn his focus to rehabbing his knee and getting healthy enough to be drafted and in the NFL next year.