Steelers Linebacker Honored With Courage Award
Linebacker Cole Holcomb received the Steelers' 2025 Ed Block Courage Award at the Art Rooney Courage House Luncheon. The event was held at Acrisure Stadium on Tuesday. The award goes to a player who has shown courage, either coming back from an injury or a life-altering situation. Holcomb’s teammates voted and chose him as this year’s recipient. Holcomb came back from a significant knee injury that threatened to end his career. His resiliency helped him get through it and get back to playing.
Holcomb said, “When it's voted on by your peers, these guys are watching you; they're seeing everything. I did have a lot of teammates who came in there, and they saw not just the good days, but the tough days. Miles Killebrew would come in, and he is going through it now. I was talking to him, and he said he was glad he came in there every day and saw what I went through because now he can prepare for that.” Holcomb added, “There were days when he, Minkah Fitzpatrick, other guys would come in my eyes were bloodshot. You could tell I had been crying. Tough days.”
Holcomb signed a three-year contract with the Steelers in March of 2023. Holcomb and the Steelers were optimistic about his first season with the team. In 2023, he played in eight games, starting in all of them. He amassed 54 total tackles, 31 of which were solo stops. He also had four tackles for a loss and two passes defensed. Holcomb’s season came to an unexpected stop when the Steelers faced the Tennessee Titans in Week Nine. During the first quarter of the game, Holcomb suffered a knee injury when a teammate collided with him. He tore multiple ligaments.
Holcomb was out for the remainder of the 2023 season and the entirety of the 2024 season. He underwent surgery and an intense rehabilitation process. Holcomb explained how he stayed on track during his recovery. He remarked, “Instead of necessarily looking at the end, I was setting so many small goals. In the very beginning, it was all about the range of motion. I wanted to just get a couple of degrees of flexion. A couple of degrees today, a couple of degrees tomorrow. So, if I could hit those degrees, I'd be good with the day and how it went."
Holcomb returned to the field this spring. He regularly participated in OTAs and minicamp. Holcomb explained how he felt about returning to training camp this year. He said, “Honestly, this has allowed me to get back to when football was just you playing for the love of the game. It felt great to be out there. I was just excited to be out there, fly around as much as I could, show them I’m back, show them I can do it.” The Steelers' Week One 2025 preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars was the first game he played in since his injury.
