Agent: Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke played season with torn ACL

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke is scheduled to undergo surgery next week to fix a torn right ACL -- an injury he played through as he led Indiana to the College Football Playoff, agent Casey Muir told ESPN on Friday. He missed just one game in 2024 -- due a thumb injury -- and led Indiana to a school-record 11 wins. The Hoosiers lost at Notre Dame in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Dec. 20. The Indianapolis Star reported Friday that it was believed Rourke partially tore the ACL in July and fully tore it the following month. Per the report, Rourke didn't let the medical staff at Indiana know of "any further discomfort or aggravation after the initial injury, and thus no new examination or imaging was conducted across the course of the season itself." While playing at Ohio in 2022, Rourke tore the same ACL. He transferred to Indiana for his redshirt-senior season in 2024 and completed 69.4 percent of his pass attempts (222 of 320) for 3,042 yards with 29 touchdowns and five interceptions. He finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy voting. ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. ranks Rourke as the No. 9 quarterback prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft. --Field Level Media