Recovering Rourke eager to get started with 49ers

While most of this year’s National Football League rookie class will begin getting their feet wet during upcoming team mini-camps, Kurtis Rourke will be meeting with San Francisco 49ers medical staff to begin determining his course of action for the upcoming season.

Rourke, who was a seventh-round selection (227th overall) of the 49ers last weekend, played through a torn ACL last season at Indiana and had surgery in early January, performed by an Indianapolis Colts team surgeon.

The Canadian quarterback’s recovery is now being handed over to the 49ers medical staff, who will perform a full evaluation after he arrives in San Francisco on May 8 to join the team’s other rookies.

“They’re going to do a whole evaluation and then I will get on their plan,” Rourke said this week. “They might want to take it slow, but they also might think I’m ahead of schedule and I could get some reps this summer, earlier than expected. I’m always the guy that’s going to try to push and be ready as soon as possible because I hate missing time.

“So, I’m kind of just waiting and trying to strengthen it as much as I can before I head out, knowing it’s up to them and I’ll just get on their plan.”

Rourke has been cleared for throwing and lifting by his surgeon, but said he is still in the strength-building portion of his recovery.

Rourke was projected by many to be a mid-round draft pick before his injury was revealed after the season, forcing him to miss all the physical elements of the pre-draft process.

San Francisco GM John Lynch said he believed Rourke would not have been available with such a late pick if not for the injury.

“It was stressful,” Rourke said of waiting until mid-afternoon Saturday to receive his call. “But it was also one of those good stressing situations, knowing I was going to be on an NFL roster by the end of the night and it ended off really well.”

Rourke and his family, including brother Nathan, watched the draft at the home of his wife’s parents in Cincinnati.

“It still hasn’t really sunk in … I think it will sink in more when I get there,” he said. “When I received that call it was emotional, just knowing the journey that it took to get there and the adversity I had to battle through. The memories flood back as you’re getting the call that your dream that you’ve worked so hard for since you were young has become a reality.”

Rourke participated in a one-hour Zoom call with 49ers offensive staff as part of the pre-draft process, coming away feeling very good about the impression he’d made.

He said there are parallels between the things he was asked to do during last season at Indiana University and the scheme operated by the 49ers, with its use of motion and reliance on timing.

“It sounds like it’s very similar – at least the thought process – to what we did last year,” Rourke said. “To be in coach [Kyle] Shanahan’s offence and be able to learn from one of the most prolific offences out there and to get that first-hand feel for it … they’re an organization that has developed quarterbacks really well. Being able to learn and soak up as much information as possible is something I’m looking forward to because I know I’m going to grow so much and expand my game even more.”

The 49ers success developing quarterbacks is highlighted by starter Brock Purdy, taken with the final pick of the seventh round three years ago, and now firmly established as the team’s starter.

Behind him, at least on paper, the depth chart is far from intimidating. It includes former first-round pick and New England Patriots starter Mac Jones, who is on his third team in three seasons, and Tanner Mordecai, an undrafted free agent out of Wisconsin, who was signed a year ago and spent last season on the practice squad.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders used their third-round pick in Tuesday’s CFL Draft to select Rourke, who came off the board earlier than many expected, given his being drafted by the 49ers and the agreement among CFL teams that he’s landed in a very good situation.

Then there is the bonus aspect to his selection by San Francisco: geography. Landing in California puts him in the same time zone as Nathan, the BC Lions quarterback, as well as his parents, who reside in the Vancouver area.

“It’s nice to be close to Nathan again and hopefully we’ll be able to see a good amount of each other’s games,” Rourke said. “It’s always a blast to see him in person.”