Kurtis Rourke is the toughest player in the CFP if news about ACL tear is true

Despite an anticlimactic exit, Indiana making the College Football Playoff was one of the best stories this season. This team making the run it did was improbable — doing it while star quarterback Kuris Rourke had a torn ACL seems borderline impossible, but that's apparently what happened, according to Tom Pelissero.

First off, I didn't know this was physically possible — was Rourke just in immense pain every time he dropped back to pass for IU? The sixth-year senior was phenomenal for Indiana this year, throwing 29 touchdowns and over 3,000 yards in his sole season with IU after transferring from Ohio. He and head coach Curt Cignetti helped IU storm the Big Ten and earn a CFP bid in each of their first seasons in Bloomington.

You have to respect Rourke for this commitment to his team — while also acknowledging how crazy it is that he was allowed to play with a torn ACL. Did anyone know he tore his ACL in August? Did anyone care?

Rourke now prepares for NFL Draft

As of right now, most experts have Rourke ranked as a mid-to-late round selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. I'm not an NFL general manager, but if I were, I'd likely be drawn to the quarterback who tore his ACL then led his team to its greatest season in program history. But again — not an NFL GM.

Caring about your craft is a trait that not everyone has, so it's hard not to respect those who do possess it. Rourke clearly cares about what he does and that makes him supremely easy to cheer for. Indiana coming into the public consciousness in 2024 was a ton of fun, and Rourke sneaking his way into a starting job in the NFL would be a perfect continuation of his underdog story.

But someone please make him rest after his "ACL revision" surgery, whatever that actually means.