Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke has caught the eye of football’s most famous family.
On Thursday, the native of Oakville, Ont. was named as one of 10 finalists for the Manning Award, awarded annually to the best quarterback in American college football. The award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honour of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning — each of whom went on to have distinguished careers in the NFL.
Joining Rourke in contention for the award are Georgia’s Carson Beck, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, Washington State’s John Mateer, Syracuse’s Kyle McCord, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, and Miami’s Cam Ward.
“It’s been another fun year of college football,” Archie Manning said in a statement. “We’ve seen some great quarterback performances at all levels, and the fact we had 36 different players get votes to be Manning Award finalists shows the depth at the position around the country. This year, we get to follow many of them through the newly expanded College Football Playoff, so there’s a lot of football yet to be played. No matter what happens, I’m sure we’ll again have an outstanding winner of the Manning Award following all of the postseason games.”
Rourke completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 2,827 yards, 27 touchdowns, and four interceptions over 11 starts this season for No. 9 Indiana, going 10-1. He is coming off his best performance of the season as he threw a record six touchdown passes in a 66-0 win over the Purdue Boilermakers and was recently named second-team All-Big Ten, losing out to Gabriel. He has also been invited to attend the East-West Shrine Bowl along with McCord and Sanders.
The six-foot-five, 230-pound passer transferred to the Hoosiers this past season to boost his stock in the 2025 NFL Draft. He previously spent five years at Ohio University where he completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 7,651 yards, 50 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions. In 2022, he won Mid-American Conference (MAC) MVP, MAC Offensive Player of the Year, and was named first-team All-MAC. In 2023, he was second-team All-MAC despite suffering a torn ACL.
Rourke was honoured as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week after defeating Iowa State on September 18, 2024. He completed 25-of-33 passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns in that game. Among the finalists for the yearlong award, he has thrown the fewest interceptions, ranks second in quarterback rating, and is third in completion percentage.
The younger brother of B.C. Lions’ quarterback Nathan Rourke is the top-ranked prospect in the 2025 CFL Draft but is expected to be selected in the mid-to-late rounds of the NFL Draft. 12 former Manning Award winners have been selected with the three picks in the NFL Draft, including 2023 winner Jayden Daniels.
The Manning Award is the only quarterback award that takes the candidates’ bowl performances into consideration in its balloting. Rourke and the Hoosiers await their shot in the 12-team College Football Playoff, with matchups and seeding set to be announced on Sunday, December 8.
The winner of the Manning Award will be announced in January shortly after the national championship is awarded.
