Indiana Football QB Kurtis Rourke ranks as a top five returning QB in the Big Ten

Indiana Football made a clear emphasis on improving its quarterback play this offseason. It started with the hiring of Curt Cignetti who has been extremely successful at developing quarterbacks. Then, Cignetti and his staff recruited three new quarterbacks including the expected starter, and former Ohio transfer, Kurtis Rourke.

While the season has not started, Rourke is already making headlines with Indiana.

Pro Football Focus released their rankings for the top ten highest-graded returning quarterbacks in the Big Ten and Rourke was ranked fifth in the conference.

Highest Graded Returning Big Ten Quarterbacks pic.twitter.com/ZEzor2RClR

— PFF College (@PFF_College) May 14, 2024

Despite not taking a snap with Indiana, Rourke has impressed with his play during spring practices.

“He just looks like [he is more comfortable],” Cignetti said about Rourke during spring camp. “The last two practices he’s been functioning, looking like a high-level quarterback.”

In his last two seasons with Ohio (2022-23), Rourke threw for 5464 passing yards, 36 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions in 22 games. Rourke led Ohio to a 16-6 record over that span, while also suffering and recovering from a significant knee injury.

Now a full year removed from the injury, Rourke has been tasked with learning a new system and building chemistry with an entirely new receiving core.

“He’s learning a lot of new plays, a lot of new terminology,” Cignetti said this Spring. “He’s finding the open guy, getting them involved. But there’s still improvement that could be made there.”

Rourke had a solid performance in the Spring game where he finished 19-for-30 (63.3%) with 124 yards and a touchdown. Despite that performance, he recognized that he and the offense has a long way to go.

“I think we’ve come a long way since the start of spring. Day one, everyone is trying to feel out the offense, feel out the playbook. Just trying to get used to everybody. Every practice we’ve built on that and built chemistry together and been able to get things going as an offense and a team,” Rourke said. “So today [Spring Game] was a good showcase of what we can do and it’s the bottom right now and we are going to continue to keep growing all the way up to fall.”

With Rourke playing under proven developers of the quarterback position in Cignetti and quarterback coach Tino Sunseri, Rourke and the offense will have plenty of time to grow before the start of the season.

“I hold myself to a really, really high standard and he’s really instilled that in me. [Sunseri’s] a great coach, one of the most knowledgeable coaches I’ve been around,” Rourke said. “So much goes into being a quarterback and you can’t be complacent. And that’s the biggest thing I admire about him, he doesn’t let us get complacent. That’s ultimately helped us grow as a whole quarterback room and shown in spring.”

With a talented receiving core around him, expectations are high for Rourke and the Indiana football offense heading into the 2024 season.

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