Kurtis Rourke Commits to Indiana

The Ohio QB has been graded among the nation's best quarterbacks over the last two seasons.

Indiana has its next QB – Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke. Rourke brings just one year of eligibility with him. We know the arms that Curt Cignetti and Tino Sunseri have developed in the past – Phillip Rivers, Mac Jones, Jordan McCloud, the Tagovailoa brothers, etc. – and combined with offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, this offensive staff and system has created some great QB play. At JMU, between 2019 and 2023, three of the four starting QBs arrived via transfer, and each of them saw impressive improvements. Cole Johnson, who started in 2020 and 2021, is also a testament to a long-term developmental QB project under Cignetti, who did not recruit Jonson to JMU.

So what does Rourke offer?

First, he brings experience. Rourke, entering his redshirt senior COVID season, has been the starting QB at Ohio for three seasons, and in that time, he’s dropped back 1,024 times. Since PFF began tracking college football data in 2014, Indiana has never began a season with a starting QB donning 1,000+ FBS snaps. Connor Bazelak was closest in 2022 (778), and Peyton Ramsey reached his 1,000th dropback near the end of 2019 (after Mike Penix was injured). Rourke’s experience starkly contrasts with the QB room to begin the 2023 season, when Indiana’s healthy QBs had a total of 14 dropbacks. 

Second, he’s a proven commodity. The 2022 MAC Offensive Player of the Year has thrown for 7,651 yards, 50 TDs, and 16 INTs, and he’s completed 66% of his passes (75% adjusted). He’s the program’s second all-time leading passer. During that 2022 season, Rourke posted the best PFF Offensive Grade among the nation’s QBs with 200+ dropbacks but sadly tore his ACL in the second-to-last regular season game, sidelining him for the bowl game that ended Ohio’s longest bowl drought since 2009. He was on pace to throw for 3,849 yards, which would’ve been the 10th-most nationally (3rd-most among Group of 5 QBs). 

There was certainly a dip in his production as he worked his way back from the ACL injury. He ended the 2023 regular season with 2,207 yards and just 11 TDs, but his PFF Offensive Grade remained high (27th nationally) and he remained head-and-shoulders above the rest of the MAC QBs. And what remains encouraging despite the lack of statistical production is Rourke’s continued poise, suggesting that there was little lost in the offseason between 2022 and 2023. He was graded 12th nationally when under pressure in 2022 and 15th in 2023. When blitzed in 2022, he had the 27th-lowest percentage of turnover-worthy plays, and in 2023, he was 19th-lowest. However, one of few concerning statistical changes between seasons was the effectiveness of his deep ball, which remained at a similar volume but was completed 20% less and for 5 fewer TDs (down from 8 in 2022). 

Regardless, Rourke has led Ohio to its two winningest consecutive seasons in program history and has posted a higher EPA than Indiana’s starting QB in each year he’s started. As the chart below shows, there is a near guarantee that QB play will be improved in Bloomington.

Notes: 

• Rourke’s 2023 EPA was 49th and higher than QBs like Taulia Tagovailoa, Spencer Rattler, Riley Leonard, Jack Plummer, Cam Ward, and more. 

• If fans were content with Brendan Sorsby’s play (90th in EPA) in 2023, they might be even more content with Rourke in 2024. 

While the collaboration of Rourke and the new offensive staff seems promising, the buck rarely stopped at the QB when Indiana’s offense struggled, particularly during the Allen years. Connor Bazelak was recruited into a system that didn’t fit his skillset; Mike Penix was famously mauled behind subpar offensive lines; and in 2021, three QBs threw at least 80 passes, thanks in part to the handling of Penix’s injury, pre- and early-season. Even Donaven McCulley, according to the IndyStar’s reporting, decided independently to transition out of the QB position.

Largely, though, it’s been the offensive line quality at the heart of these issues. There is justified concern (as it stands on Dec. 14, 2023) for the offensive line again. Kahlil Benson, Mike Katic, and Matthew Bedford have all departed, while Carter Smith, in arguably the best news of the Cignetti Era so far, announced that he will return. With Zach Carpenter’s status in limbo, Indiana has holes at left guard, right guard, and right tackle. And while Cignetti and his staff will be working the portal, offensive line can be in short supply in the portal, if it’s quality you’re looking for. In terms of the offensive lines Rourke has worked with, he played behind a very good Ohio OL (10th nationally in pass-blocking) this season but that was also fairly unimpressive the season before (100th nationally in pass-blocking). 

Cignetti and his staff developed Jordan McCloud and Todd Centeio behind offensive lines that graded 77th and 109th, respectively. They also weren’t coached by Bob Bostad. And if there wasn’t an OL plan for the staff to communicate to Rourke, he wouldn’t have chosen to play at Indiana.

It’s been quite a while since Indiana fans experienced efficient QB play (see the chart below), and even within the good seasons, there were pitfalls. Rourke might be able to alleviate some of that during his only season in Bloomington, but if he can’t, there’s still the chance that Cignetti (and Shanahan and Sunseri) can bring some consistency to the position for Indiana.

---