For Cole Holcomb, the 2023 season was a new beginning.
The only problem was, it ended before he had the chance to enjoy it.
But that is now in the past, and Holcomb has another fresh start, one that he earned through hard work and determination.
That is why his teammates voted him the Steelers 2025 recipient of the Ed Block Courage Award. The award is voted on by the players and given to a player who has shown courage either coming back from an injury or a life-altering situation.
Holcomb will receive the award at the 2025 Arthur J. Rooney Courage House Luncheon on Nov. 11 at Acrisure Stadium. Irene Pearson, who spent time at Holy Family Institute, is the recipient of the Courage House Award.
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The 2023 season started off with great promise for Holcomb.
After signing with the team in during the offseason free agency period, Holcomb was primed to have the season the Steelers expected when they brought him in.
"I know what they're expecting, and I feel like I can fit in well, and I think this is my kind of organization," said Holcomb when he arrived. "I love the atmosphere. I love the fan base. I love the organization. I love the coaching staff. And I'm just super excited to get started working with these guys."
Holcomb was a standout early on, showing his hard-hitting persona from Day 1, combined with this intelligence and football savvy.
Through eight games, all of them starts, he had 54 tackles, 31 of them solo stops, four tackles for a loss and two passes defensed.
"It was going good," said Holcomb. "I felt like I was really starting to get a grasp of the defense, really coming into my own and just starting to get into a roll of things and feeling good."
But it all came to a crashing halt in that Week 8 game against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday Night Football.
Holcomb suffered a severe knee injury that not only ended the 2023 season for him, landing him on the Reserve/Injured List not just for the remainder of that year, but the 2024 season as well.
"It was wild. Hurt, hurt bad," said Holcomb. "I knew I messed it up pretty bad. In that moment, they were coming out, running their tests and I just wanted to get off the field.
"I knew it was a bad injury. I was just telling them, get the cart out here and get me out of here so we can do it back, not in front of everybody."
He was right. It was bad. Really bad.
And the road back, it wouldn't be an easy one.
But Holcomb never faltered.
"I don't think I ever questioned being able to return," said Holcomb. "It was always the goal and not for me to just make a comeback. I wanted to come back and prove that I can be a top linebacker in this league still.
"Yeah, some days were tougher than others. But it wasn't necessarily not looking at the finish line, just getting lost in the process and trying to take the small wins each day and not get too caught up in the big picture like the final product."
He was able to return to practice late in the 2024 season, but despite that small step, he wasn't activated and remained on the Reserve/Injured List for the year.
"I felt good," said Holcomb. "Definitely had a lot of nerves at first. But once I got back out there, it's just football all over again. And it felt good to be able to put some pads back on and get out there and play some ball."
That was just a taste of things. The real reward came when Holcomb returned to the field for the 2025 season.
Back to full strength.
And overcoming the odds that were stacked against him to make the 53-man roster.
"It's great. It feels great to be back," said Holcomb. "It's great to be wanted back. It feels good to know that I did enough to prove to them that I'm worth keeping.
"But that was just one goal marked off, and now on to the next. I was joking with Coach (Mike) T(omlin). I told him, if you think the goal is just to make the team and be happy with that, he's mistaken.
"The road is not finished. Good milestone. Great milestone, super excited, but the job is not done.
"It's about getting back to where I was. I want to prove that I can be a top linebacker in the league again.
"I love this game. I love playing all aspects of football. But I love playing defense, and I want to carve out a role on defense, as well as playing special teams again.
"It's just getting back to being a top tier linebacker."
And that road is now well paved.
Holcomb is enjoying being back on the field, attacking every day with a new life.
He knows how quickly the game can be taken from you, but he also knows how you can fight to keep it where you want it.
"Stuff is going to happen to you," said Holcomb. "There are things that are out of your control that you can sit there and reflect and feel sorry for yourself, or you can do something about it.
"Not once in my mind I didn't think I wasn't going be able to come back. And it's one of those things where anybody can tell what they want, but I'm going to do what I've got to do.
"I'm going to keep pushing, and I'm going to control what I can control."
