Did Kurtis Rourke play the 2024 season with a torn ACL?
The Indiana QB’s agent told NFL Network that Rourke would undergo revision surgery on the ACL in his right knee, and according to NFLN, Rourke is “believed” to re-tear his ACL in the weeks prior to the 2024 season.
Indiana star QB Kurtis Rourke, a 2025 NFL Draft prospect, will undergo ACL revision surgery on Wednesday, according to his agent Casey Muir in @octagonfutbol.
Rourke is believed to have tore his ACL again in August, but he played amazingly and led the Hoosiers to the playoffs. A tough guy. pic.twitter.com/0bZze2ZMrC
-Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 3, 2025
If Rourke played the entire season with a torn ACL, it would be a notable footnote to the best year in Indiana history. The Hoosiers went 11-1 in the regular season and made the College Football Playoff before losing to Notre Dame in the first round on December 21.
Rourke was a big reason. A fringe Heisman candidate who finished ninth in voting at the end of the season, Rourke completed 222 of 320 passes for 3,042 yards and 29 touchdowns with just five interceptions in 12 games. However, he struggled in Indiana’s losses. Rourke was 8 of 18 for 68 yards in the Hoosiers’ Nov. 23 loss to Ohio State and completed 20 of 33 passes for 215 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
The fifth-year QB missed the team’s game against Washington after his right thumbnail came off in the team’s win over Nebraska.
Rourke first tore the ACL in his right knee at the end of the 2022 season while at Ohio. He was the 2022 MAC MVP that season as he was 244 of 353 through the air for 3,257 yards and 25 TDs in 11 games before his injury.
He played the 2023 season at Ohio before transferring to Indiana prior to the 2024 season when former James Madison coach Curt Cignetti became the Hoosiers’ head coach.