Rourke ready for yet another challenge
Victoria-born quarterback drafted by Lions won’t let lack of respect for his proven play hold him back
Nathan Rourke has been here before.
Here, in the darkness of disrespect and disappointment.
His senior year of high school in Alabama, he matched the state record of 59 touchdowns playing for 3A Edgewood Academy, throwing for 3,789 yards and just three picks. Those numbers would have been even higher, except he only played more than two quarters twice all season, with his team usually up big.
After he won the state title, NCAA scholarships should have flown in. After all, that was the sole reason the Rourke family uprooted from Oakville, Ont., to move to the Deep South.
Instead, radio silence. Darkness. Disappointment.
With no D1 offers on the table, Rourke played a season of junior college at Fort Scott Community College, in a small town south of Kansas City. He lit up the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference — 2,367 yards, 18 touchdowns and a first-team conference all-star selection — but, again, the D1 offers didn’t immediately come.
Eventually, they started trickling in, late in the season. Eastern Kentucky. Akron. Ohio.
Rourke chose the Bobcats and embarked on an epic collegiate career. By they time he left Athens, Ohio, he was a school legend, not only because he was first to take Ohio to three consecutive bowl games. His records take up a page in the media guide, including 111 total touchdowns, 49 rushing TDs, 10,091 combined yards and a 7.65 yards-per-play average.
At 6-2, 210 pounds, he was shorter than the prototypical NFL quarterback, and there were some questions about his arm strength and accuracy, but his positives far outweighed the negatives. And as the NFL draft loomed last week, finally, it seemed Rourke might at last join the same fraternity of his childhood idol, Brett Favre.
Instead, hello darkness, his old friend.
“I wasn’t surprised that I wasn’t drafted … but we were pretty sure that we were going to be able to get signed afterwards. There were some people on my team who were signed on draft-day deals pretty much instantly after the draft ended,” said Rourke, who was born in Victoria before the family moved to Ontario when he was two.
“It was weird for me to see all these guys get signed and quarterbacks that I had known … get signed, and then (for me to) not get signed or not even have a phone call.”
He did get one phone call from an NFL team, but there was no talk of a deal. They only asked if other teams had expressed any interest.
“I just told them ‘no’ so. It has been disappointing — absolutely. We definitely were expecting to be with a (NFL) team at this point,” he said.
But every time he’s been knocked down, Rourke has got back up. Every disappointment has spurred him on to the next level.
On Thursday, the B.C. Lions selected Rourke with their second pick in the CFL draft, at 15th overall, the highest a quarterback had gone since the Montreal Alouettes took Jesse Palmer at 15th in 2001.
“Sometimes you need those things to push you,”
Rourke said. “You know, I think you look at some of the players who have had success right out of high school, labelled a prodigy or the ‘Next Great Thing,’ sometimes they have a harder time adjusting to adversity.
“I’ve never been labelled one of those things. I’ve always had to fight for everything that I’ve had, and there’s a lot more that I want to achieve.”
Palmer went on to achieve Rourke’s goal of playing in the NFL, although his only real notable accomplishment in his four seasons as a backup with the New York Giants was getting sacked by Washington Redskins defensive end Bruce Smith, giving him 199 for his career and making him the NFL’s all-time leader.
Rourke knows that the road back to the NFL begins in B.C. and, as he always does, he’s going to focus on the first step.
While landing an NFL freeagent spot might have meant Rourke could choose his destination, there aren’t many better fits for him than in
B.C., where incumbent Mike Reilly and team legend Travis Lulay are ready and willing to provide guidance and feedback. Reilly already reached out to welcome Rourke to the team.
“I think we lucked out. I’m very fortunate to be able to be able to we work with them,” said Rourke. “So I still have something to prove. And I’m looking forward to being able to do that in B.C.
“There’s gonna be a lot of learning that’s going to have to be involved, but at the end of the day, that is going to be something that I want to do. I want to continue to pursue, so the dream’s not over.”
I’ve always had to fight for everything that I’ve had, and there’s a lot more that I want to achieve.” Nathan Rourke