How Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke followed his brother, and then went down his own path

Robyn Rourke is well aware that the youngest of her two quarterback-playing sons is enjoying unprecedented success for a Canadian in the massive industry that is U.S. college football.

She understands that the eyes of a football-mad nation will be on Kurtis Rourke Saturday when his upstart and unbeaten Indiana Hoosiers go to famous Ohio Stadium to face the perennial powerhouse Ohio State Buckeyes in one of the most anticipated NCAA football games of the year.

But while she'll be plenty nervous — probably walking and pacing around the house, when watching the game on television in Langley, B.C. while her husband Larry and older son and B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan are part of the crowd of 100,000-plus in Columbus — she'll also feel an immense sense of pride and gratitude.

"To find a fit like Indiana, we're just really thrilled, thankful and excited," Robyn said over the phone this week. "We take it one game at a time and we're just thankful to be along for the ride."

A wild ride, indeed.

There never has been family like this in Canada. First, there was Nathan, the breakout CFL star in 2022, the elusive Canadian quarterback to excel. More of a dual-threat QB than his taller brother, the six-foot-two Nathan then bounced around the NFL for 1.5 years without getting a real shot before returning to B.C. this past summer

Meanwhile, the six-foot-five Kurtis, 24, transferred to Indiana and joined new coach Curt Cignetti for his final year of college eligibility after an excellent career at far-smaller Ohio University, the same school where Nathan played all his NCAA ball. While suiting up for Indiana in the Big Ten was considered a major step up, the Hoosiers have been a football afterthought for much of their history. In fact, they've suffered more losses than any other team at the top level of NCAA football.

What a difference a year, and a new quarterback and coach, can make. Indiana is one of only three remaining unbeaten teams in the country. Rourke is tied for fourth in the latest BetMGM odds for the Heisman Trophy and is eighth among quarterbacks on Mel Kiper Jr.'s 2025 NFL Draft rankings, meaning he's a strong bet to be selected. Not bad for a kid ranked 2,221st overall in the 2019 NCAA signing class, per Indiana University sports beat writer Michael Niziolek of the Bloomington Herald-Times.

Rourke is just the third Canadian quarterback to start a game for a team playing in one of the NCAA's four (formerly five) power conferences this century.

"It's great to be a part of something so exciting. And something Kurtis is excelling at and enjoying," Robyn said. " We'll see where it goes from here."

Though her sons play the same position and spent several years the same Ohio school, Robyn acknowledges their journeys have been very different. Nathan found VHS tapes of Brett Favre's Green Bay Packers as a young kid and soon was addicted to football. Kurtis, who was born and raised in Oakville, Ont., where the family resided for 20 years before heading back to B.C., didn't have that same football intensity.

Nathan, Robyn said, was the more serious kid. Kurtis, on the other hand, "needs to have a little bit of fun to buy in."

"Larry and I never doubted what Nathan wanted to do when he grew up. Never," Robyn said. "Nathan was as clear as day. He wrote about it in Grade 3. He was only three years old when he started gravitating to watching football and film and all that. Kurtis just enjoyed the company of his brother. We often wondered would Kurtis even play football if it wasn't for Nathan."

Robyn moved to Alabama with Nathan and Kurtis (then in Grade 10) for Nathan's final year of high school as her older son tried to earn an NCAA scholarship.

While the prep-school plan eventually helped Nathan achieve his goal, Kurtis was buried on the depth chart.

"We didn't know if he would continue in football (after the year in Alabama)," Robyn said. "They pushed him so hard in the weight room, but he didn't get to do what he loved, which is play. He hardly got any reps. The weight room was not Kurtis' favourite. He wanted to be out, he wanted to be playing, throwing the ball. He didn't get to experience much of that."

Added Nathan, to Nizolek: "It wasn’t until years later that I realized how tough that year in Alabama was on Kurtis. I was just so focused on accomplishing my own goals that I didn't realize how tough it was for him. I hope he feels like maybe it was worth it, and he got something out of it in the end.”

The next year, Nathan went to junior college in Kansas and Kurtis and Robyn returned home. Back at Holy Trinity high school, Kurtis, following a major growth spurt, joined the football team coached by Joe Moscato, also Nathan's high-school coach in Canada.

Holy Trinity, Robyn said, is where "Kurtis started to find his way, It was not really until Grade 11 or 12, where we started to go 'Ok, maybe he's going to do the football thing, too."

Said Moscato: "When he was in Grade 11, he came out there and we were pretty astonished. He had some major arm talent. ... We were so impressed how quickly he was picking up offence and how easy it was for him.

"... At that moment, we were kind of thinking to ourselves we've got something special here."

They discovered the same as Ohio, after the Bobcats decided to bring Kurtis in. If he wasn't Nathan's brother, Kurtis wouldn't have been on Ohio's radar.

“He truly was the little brother,” Ohio offensive co-ordinator Scott Isphording told Nizolek. “Kurtis was going into his junior year (of high school) and he came to our camp, and I’ll be honest with you he didn’t do a thing. He was not noticeable."

Kurtis guided the Bobcats to two 10-win seasons, despite a serious knee injury, before deciding to take a shot at a bigger stage.

There were no hard feelings. Members of the Ohio coaching staff were at Kurtis' wedding in February in Cincinnati. His wife Caroline is a former Ohio volleyball player (the two met at an Athletes in Action event after both were part of the Cru Ministries program).

“As a coach who is 31 years into this, it's those relationships that you enjoy,” Ohio offensive co-ordinator Scott Ishpording told Niziolek. “It's not every player, but guys that start three years for you like both Nathan and Kurtis did, you certainly grow close. I'm proud of the man he’s become and what he's doing there at Indiana. I'd like to think Ohio had a little to do with that."

Cignetti has talked about Rourke's maturity being an asset, noting he's a married man.

"I actually see a huge difference in his confidence after finding the love of his life, finding Caroline," Robyn said. "I think she is truly the wind beneath his wings, even though he did well before she came into the picture. But I think having her support and love day in and day out gives him a newfound confidence on the field that he didn't have before. She's pretty special."

Rourke hasn't forgotten his roots. He was back at Holy Trinity in May to run a camp for current players before spending 90 minutes with Moscato talking football and life.

The two have continued to exchange texts during this outstanding season.

"It's just surreal, unbelievable that this is actually happening," Moscato said. "I'm watching (ESPN's) College GameDay and they're talking about him. It's pretty amazing. I'm so happy for him and his family. Every bit of success he's having at this point is well deserved."

Make no mistake, though, this is a true family success story — "They come from a great family. That's why they are who they are, for sure," Moscato said.

But Nathan and Kurtis also are who they are because of each other.

At the end of a 20-minute conversation, the emotion in Robyn's voice is evident as she talks about the relationship of her two sons.

"Oh my goodness, I think that's a better question to ask Kurtis," Robyn said when asked what Nathan has meant to his younger brother.

"They have a really special friendship. It's quite remarkable. They've been competitive, always in a really healthy sense ... There is sincere brotherly love and support. They call each other first for anything football, even life stuff. I think they're best friends and it's always been that way, There really hasn't been a time in their lives they have not been like that.

"I'm just really blessed to be their mom."