SURREY, B.C. — There were days this fall when B.C. Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke needed to take his mind off football. After a stunning start to the CFL season, the Canadian was sidelined in mid-August by a foot injury that required surgery and doctors ordered him to stay off the field. “For a good second there, I was trying to forget about football," Rourke said Tuesday. "I was trying to distract myself with friends and family and their support. "I watched a lot of things on the internet. … There were days where you don't want to even think about it.
So I just went on movie marathons and stuff like that." Now, after nearly nine weeks of recovery and rehabilitation, the 24-year-old is getting back into game action.
Lions head coach and co-general manager Rick Campbell said Tuesday that he expects Rourke to start on Friday when B.C. (12-5) wraps its regular-season campaign against the league-leading Blue Bombers (14-3) in Winnipeg.
Rourke will play "about a quarter" just to get back into the rhythm of a game, Campbell said. “It's part of what we've talked about over the weeks," he said. "We could go the route of just letting him play in the (West Division semifinal), but I think he's going to feel better getting back out there and getting some live action and just getting back to it.