‘They are winners’: New Indiana football QB commit Kurtis Rourke makes call for Hoosiers

When the new Indiana football coaching staff arrived in Bloomington, there were numerous players who had entered the transfer portal — some clearly more important than others.

One of those players was starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby. After he quickly announced his commitment to Cincinnati, Curt Cignetti and the rest of his staff worked to address the need at quarterback. They did so with Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke — who announced his pledge to Indiana football on Thursday.

Rourke was the 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year and will arrive in Bloomington with nearly 40 starts under his belt.

Rourke has totaled 7,666 career yards with 61 touchdowns (50 passing) and 16 interceptions in his career.

So what made Indiana the right call for Rourke? It was simple, he told Pete Nakos of On3.com.

“I love the staff and the fact that they are winners,” Rourke said. “The offense also is similar to NFL offenses. There are many other reasons but those were the main ones.”

There’s no hiding the fact that Cignetti and new IU offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Tina Sunseri have been extremely productive at producing talented quarterbacks.

Since 2021, that trio of coaches have helped last three quarterbacks at JMU of Cole Johnson, Todd Centeio and McCloud combine for 10,816 yards, 119 touchdowns and just 18 interceptions.

McCloud was named the Sun Belt conference Player of the Year this season as well.

During Indiana football’s coaching search, one of the boxes AD Scott Dolson wanted to check off was success coaching the quarterback position.

“It didn’t take much convincing. The proof’s in the pudding. We had four quarterbacks at JMU in five years. They all had their major skeptics going into the season, and all four of them were conference Player of the Year on offense,” Cignetti said during his introductory press conference about his ability to coach quarterbacks. “You tweak the offense depending on the strengths of the team, what the quarterback can do, how’s the offensive line, what’s your receiving corps like, et cetera.”

Rourke joins the Indiana football program with one year of eligibility left and with aspirations of getting to the next level, it looks to be a perfect match.

SEE ALSO: There’s no time to relax — Curt Cignetti and Indiana football hit the ground running as transfer portal window opens up