Like a true Canadian, there is nothing that Mother Nature can throw at Nathan Rourke that will stop him from, well, throwing.
In an appearance on The Rod Pedersen Show this week, B.C. Lions’ general manager Ryan Rigmaiden explained why his confidence level in the team’s homegrown quarterback was so high by sharing a recent story of true North resilience.
“I was just back in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago and we had some crazy weather come in. Vancouver, usually when the snow comes in, it doesn’t stick for very long. Well, it did. There was a couple of inches of snow on the ground. There was some ice,” Rigmaiden recalled. “I pull up to the building — 8:15, 8:30 — and walking in, I see (head coach Buck Pierce). Buck and I are walking in and he goes, ‘Hey, that’s Nathan out there on the field, shovelling the field to get a place for him and (Jevon Cottoy).'”
Despite playing their games under a dome, the Lions do not have easy access to an indoor practice field as the Lower Mainland’s mild climate makes those facilities rare in the area. While a rare snowstorm in the region would generally cause the temporary cancellation of outdoor competitions and training, nothing was going to stop Rourke from doing what he needed to do.
“This guy’s out there at eight in the morning on a Tuesday, shovelling a 50-yard section of the field so that he could throw. I think they were throwing two routes and just perfecting those routes in the corner of the end zone,” Rigmaiden raved.
“I think everybody knows his unmatched work ethic and character. This guy just eats football every day. This guy never stops.”
Relentless drive has always been a key part of Rourke’s story but the viewing public may need a refresher following a challenging year for the Oakville, Ont. native. After bouncing around with four different NFL teams, his return to B.C. was anything but triumphant.
The 26-year-old made eight starts after joining the team mid-season on a massive new contract, completing 136-of-209 passes (65 percent) for 1,781 yards, four touchdowns, and nine interceptions. He also rushed 24 times for 213 yards and five touchdowns before being benched for the regular-season finale and West Semi-Final.
“At the end of last year when we had our exit meetings, my friend advice to Nathan was, ‘Please go to a beach somewhere and just turn your phone off, put the football down, enjoy your family, just take a little break and decompress from everything that you’ve gone through,'” Rigmaiden said, referencing the difficult situation the QB was placed in. “He sat there for about half a second and kind of smiled, and he said, ‘Rigs, you know I have to throw.'”
Rourke became an overnight sensation when he was named the Lions’ starter in 2022, completing 255-of-324 passes (78.7 percent) for 3,349 yards, 25 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions in 10 games that season. He also ran 39 times for 304 yards and seven touchdowns. Despite missing half the year with a Lisfranc sprain, he battled back in time to lead B.C. to a playoff victory and became the first quarterback to be named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian since 1980.
While his accomplishments initially united fans across the country, public sentiment seemed to turn once Rourke departed for an opportunity with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Some three-down traditionalists found the saga of him trying to catch onto rosters with the Jags, Patriots, Giants, and Falcons tiresome, while others were rubbed the wrong way when he became the CFL’s highest-paid player and was handed the starting job of M.O.P. candidate Vernon Adams Jr. without competition after rejoining B.C. His discomfort with media attention and refusal to complete an in-game interview with TSN during Touchdown Pacific only exacerbated the perception that he was acting “too big” for the league.
Nothing could be further from the truth according to Rigmaiden, who believes fan sentiment toward Rourke will soon do something that his practice field didn’t.
“The kid is tremendous. Work ethic is amazing. Obviously, his superpower has been his ability to process on the field and just get the ball out and know what defences are doing. But I think Canada is going to start warming up to the person that he is,” he said. “He’s funny, he’s kind of witty, he’s goofy, he’s a tremendous leader. The sky’s the limit for him, and we couldn’t be more happy to have him as our quarterback.”
The Lions have gone all in on Rourke since trading Vernon Adams Jr. earlier this offseason and the Canuck gunslinger has returned the favour, restructuring his controversial monster contract in order to provide salary cap flexibility. Now a full-time Lower Mainland resident, he has been hard at work refining his craft with local movement coach and QB mechanics guru Rob Williams in the hopes of bouncing back next season.
Not everybody is convinced that a return to 2022 form is possible though and B.C. was ranked eighth in 3DownNation‘s post-free agency power rankings. That does nothing to shake Rigmaiden’s confidence, as he has seen all these doubts before.
“Believe me, I’m not offended. I haven’t seen that article, to be honest. I don’t pay too much attention to that kind of stuff but, look, I get it. I guess if somebody were to say, hey, there’s been a lot of change here, I can understand that,” he said. “But I’ll remind everybody, a few years ago, before anybody knew who Nathan was, I think we were ranked pretty low as well.”
The Lions will open their 2025 regular season by hosting the Edmonton Elks at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver on Saturday, June 7 with kickoff slated for 8:00 p.m. EDT.
