Lean on me: The intertwined football journeys of brothers Nathan and Kurtis Rourke
Maybe, if the stars and opportunities align, the Rourkes could join the very short list of brothers to play quarterback in the NFL. Nathan is already there, and his brother Kurtis might not be far behind.
Article content
Without Kurtis Rourke, there would be no NFL for Nathan Rourke.
And without his big brother, there would be no NFL dreams for Kurtis.
Nathan paved the way. Kurtis propped him up. They both pushed each other.
After an off-season of uncertainty, Nathan is sticking around the NFL; the former B.C. Lions star re-signed with the New England Patriots this week. And after obliterating all sorts of records at Ohio University — including some of his brother’s — Kurtis is a week away from spring football with the Indiana Hoosiers, after using the portal to transfer to the Big 10 school in January for his final year of eligibility.
“I’m glad that he’s moved on from Ohio, because that means at least some of my records will be safe,” laughed Nathan, the older brother at 25 to Kurtis’s 23.
“I know he wasn’t gonna get some of my rushing records, so I wasn’t worried about those. So that’s good. But I’m glad that he’s going to get the opportunity that I never did. I was in a very different situation than he was.
“If given the opportunity, I would have absolutely done what he did, and gone to a bigger program and tried to get playing time. I always knew in the back of my head that playing in Ohio would have its downsides in terms of not getting the exposure or given the credence that playing against the type of competition that an SEC school or Big 10 school might get. And for him to take the advantage that … I think this is going to be really, really good for him and for his draft profile, and I’m really excited for him.”
Nathan had little exposure or interest when he was playing football for Holy Trinity in the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations, despite leading the school to an undefeated season and its first provincial title as a Grade 11 quarterback. He elected to move south to Edgewood Academy in Elmore, Ala., for Grade 12, which turned out to be the first rung on a longer-than-expected ladder to pro football.
But if Kurtis and his mom hadn’t joined him in the U.S., Nathan wouldn’t have been eligible to play, and says he’ll forever be indebted to his family for their sacrifice.
“He’s paid it back, many times already,” Kurtis said this week. “It was a tough year for me, because I went from being excited and looking forward to my sophomore year back in Canada … to dropping everything and moving with my mom to essentially sit on the sidelines in both football and basketball and watch Nathan be the guy.
“It was an amazing experience just to watch him do that. I’ll be his No. 1 fan forever, but outside of his success and all the great things that he did, it was tough to fit in down there. But I would do it again because of the success that it brought Nathan, and where he’s ultimately at today.”
While Nathan was busy throwing for a state-record 59 touchdowns, along with 3,789 yards, despite only playing more than two quarters just twice that season, Kurtis was relegated to being a cheerleader in pads as the little-used, third string quarterback. While, he said, his older brother watched, appreciated and learned from what he saw.
“He was a great teammate to me. He was a great role model of what it’s like to be a supportive teammate in the room,” said Nathan. “It was good, because up to that point, I hadn’t been a backup. So to see him model that was important for me for when I got to B.C., and obviously my last two stops as well in the NFL.”
When Kurtis and mom Robyn returned to Oakville after that year, it was the former freshman’s turn to come into his own. He, too, led the Holy Trinity Titans to a provincial title, and, by his final year, he had sprouted to 6-foot-5 — three inches taller than his brother — and had an arm that left his coaches in awe.
“He’s the only guy that you could stand behind, and when he threw the ball, you can hear the ball whistle,” said Joe Moscato, who coached both Rourke brothers at Holy Trinity. “Sometimes the coaches would come off the field after game, and they’re like, ‘My God, what a quarterback. What an arm.’ ”
Kurtis received interest from several schools, but one offered early — Ohio — as his brother made sure his coaches knew about his brother’s potential. His word carried weight, too, having led the Bobcats to multiple bowl victories, and he won two straight Jon Cornish trophies as the top Canadian football player. He didn’t host Kurtis on his recruiting visit, though — he was too busy preparing for that week’s game.
Kurtis redshirted his freshman year — Nathan’s last — and when his older brother left, he gave his coaches some parting words: “Don’t coach him like me. We’re different.”
Nathan’s success was as a dual-threat QB, with the ability to break out of the pocket and score with his legs. Kurtis and his cannon arm had hit through the air, having games where he threw for 537 yards or five touchdowns — totals far higher than his brother. He would finish his Bobcats career with 7,666 yards (second all-time in school history), one rung above Nathan’s 7,454. But Nathan’s 60 total TDs is better than Kurt’s by 10, and he’s the highest-rushing quarterback in team history.
It leads to some spirited conversations over holiday dinners, Nathan chuckled, the inevitable extension of their long-standing sibling rivalry that spilled over to just about every corner of their lives.
“At a youth group, my senior year, and we’re supposed to be the leaders for Athletes in Action and we’re playing this card game against each other … and we both kind of showed a pretty ugly side of ourselves in front of those at our team chapel,” Nathan said, laughing.
“As long as there’s a winner and loser, we’re going to compete.”
They would battle over everything, but one-on-one basketball was their personal Super Bowl. As for the better player?
“See, this is always a debate because it’s been a long time since we played,” said Kurtis. “I think I’ve always been more of a shooter, because I hit my growth spurt so late, and so I needed to be able to shoot, because every time I’d go to the rim, he would block me.
“And then I kind of got my growth spurt and was kind of able to even the playing field. But then we both kind of went away in our own careers, so we haven’t played in a little bit, but there’s gonna be a point where we’re gonna play some pickup like the old days.”
That will have to wait, as there’s too much on the line to risk a twisted ankle, blown-out knee or finger injury.
Rourke is focused on securing a spot with the Patriots. With Mac Jones being traded this week — ironically, to Nathan’s former team in the Jacksonville Jaguars — it leaves incumbent Baily Zappe, Rourke and Jacoby Brissett, who returned to the Pats on a US$8-million, one year deal.
There’s also plenty of speculation that New England will use their No. 3 pick in the NFL Draft, just a little over a month away, to take one of the highly regarded QBs in the class: USC’s Caleb Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye or LSU’s Jayden Daniels.
But a year of being yo-yoed between the practice squad and the active roster, the carrot of promised competition being yanked away prematurely, has inured Nathan to the realities of NFL life. He was unfailingly positive about the situation, and buoyed by the fact the newly installed coaching staff had seen enough value in him to retain him as an exclusive rights free agent weeks before they were required to make a decision.
“For them to go through that process and relatively quickly (sign me) … I think I should take a lot of pride in that and take it as a good sign,” he said. “I’m not blind to what the needs of the organization are. I won’t be surprised if something happens on Day 1 of the NFL Draft either, but I just know that to be in a room is a great opportunity. All I need is a chance … a chance be able to prove to them that I belong, to be able to get on the field and get some pre-season film like I did last year. Those are all positive things.”
Like his brother, Kurtis is transferring to a team in flux and operating under a new head coach.
After three straight seasons with a losing record — going 3-24 in the B10’s East Division — the Hoosiers paid coach Tom Allen US$15.5 million to go away in November. He had anointed Tennessee transfer Tayven Jackson the No. 1 in midseason, but Jackson only had two touchdowns in six games as a starter (2-4), before losing the starter’s job.
No other team has lost more Football Bowl Subdivision games (713) than Indiana. Head coach Curt Cignetti aims to change that after going 52-9 at James Madison, the same Easter resurrection miracle he pulled off in his previous two stops at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon.
“The big reason why I committed here was for the coaching staff and the mentality that they have,” said Kurtis. “Winning is what they do. They’ve brought that to every place that they’ve been to.”
It is, he said in the same tone as his brother, an opportunity. And this time, his brother is the cheerleader, albeit from almost exactly 1,000 miles away in Foxborough, Mass.
“This is the first time in awhile where he’s kind of done it himself, right?” said Nathan. “This isn’t anything to do with me. This is something that he’s done on his own; his own path and journey. People in Indiana don’t know who I am. His professors aren’t going to call him by my name.
“I think it’d be a really good year for him to learn a lot of good things that will set him up for hopefully a lengthy professional career.”
The last time the Rourke family planned a draft party, it ended in disappointment with Nathan’s name going uncalled. A callup to camp by the New York Giants as a free agent receiver was a laughable replacement. They’re hoping that in a little over a year’s time there will be another spirited debate: where to host the draft party — with Robyn and dad Larry, at Nathan and wife Emily’s house, or with the family of Kurtis’s new wife, Caroline, in Cincinnati?
“We’re really proud of the fact that there’s not many Canadian quarterbacks, and for both of us to be able to make it (to the NFL) would be really special,” Nathan said. “I think that’d be really, really cool. And hopefully he doesn’t have the experiences that I did on draft day.”
There have been many brothers who play or coach against each other in the NFL, but a very select few who lined up at quarterback. Eli and Peyton Manning are the most famous, with Derek and David Carr other recent notables inducted into the small fraternity (though Derek joined two years after David retired).
“I’m looking forward to have the chance to play against him in the big leagues, wherever that is — NFL, CFL, whatever — because we’ve never done that before in a real setting. It’s only been in the backyard,” said Kurtis.
Moscato could see his former stars succeeding.
“If given a chance, the opportunity to get an equal shot at a fair shot at playing in the NFL, they’re both going to be very successful,” he said. “Their IQ, their vision, their anticipation is beyond what I’ve ever seen before as a coach. I won’t ever coach a couple of quarterbacks like that again.
“They are the success story, you know? They’re the guys that we point towards and say, ‘Hey, if you do the right thing and you’ve got enough talent that’s where you could end up someday.’ They’ve been a major inspiration to a lot of young men.”
Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add VancouverSun.com and TheProvince.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.
You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: For just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The Province.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.