Kurtis Rourke went through the wringer a bit for Indiana this season, but that did not slow down the quarterback. He re-wrote some of the single-season records for the Hoosiers, and he’s now trying to boost his NFL Draft stock at the NFL Combine.

Shortly after the season ended with a College Football Playoff loss to Notre Dame, it was reported that Rourke actually played through a torn ACL. But during his media session at the combine, Rourke revealed he did not know the full extent of that injury until after the season concluded.

“Back in July, I kind of tweaked it a little bit. Got an MRI which said it was partially torn,” said Rourke. “They said I might have some nagging comfortability until I could rest it after the season, so that’s kind of what I went on.”

Rourke said he still doesn’t know when exactly the injury took place, but his best guess is that the full tear occurred sometime during training camp in August. In spite of that, Rourke said his main goal was to be available for every game.

“I just wanted to play through it. I wanted to make sure I was available for every game, and it wasn’t until after the season that realized at some point it fully tore,” Rourke explained. “I was just happy I was able to play through that.”

Rourke not only played through the ailment, he flourished with a single-season program record with 29 passing touchdowns and finished the season as 1 of 4 IU quarterbacks to throw for at least 3,000 yards in a season. The Hoosiers went 11-1 in the regular season and made their first-ever Playoff appearance as a result.

“I was healthy enough to play, and that’s all that mattered to me,” said Rourke. “I wanted to make sure I gave everything I had this year… If I was feeling great, I was going to play no matter what was going on.”

While Rourke did shine overall, his numbers from the start of November onward dipped noticeably as the season wore on. He completed at least 70% of passes in 5 of his first 7 games but had just 1 such instance in the final 5 games.

Asked to deliver a message to NFL teams, Rourke leaned into what he accomplished in spite of the circumstances:

“I just look at and want to tell teams: If I did that on a torn ACL and a broken thumb, imagine what I can do when I’m fully healthy,” pitched Rourke.

In a weak draft class for QBs, we’ll see if Rourke can build his case to become a mid-round pick in the draft.