Colin Holba (born July 8, 1994) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

long snapper In American football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a center on special teams whose duty is to snap the football over a longer distance, typically around 15 yards during punts, and 7–8 yards during field goals and extra point att ...

. He played college football at

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. Holba was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round (213th overall) of the

2017 NFL Draft The 2017 NFL Draft was the 82nd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. It was held in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on April 27–29, returning to Philadelphia ...

Early life

While in

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, Holba played three years of football and four years of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. He also made honor roll for all four years of high school and graduated as valedictorian at Eastern High School. Inspired by the influence of his older brother. He can attribute all of his collegiate and professional sporting success to his older brother, Brendan Holba, a high school teacher and varsity softball coach at

York Community High School York Community High School is a public secondary school in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. It is a part of the Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205. Most of the students reside in Elmhurst; however, the district also draws a small num ...

Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city mostly in DuPage County and overlapping into Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois, and a western suburb of Chicago. As of 2021, the city has an estimated population of 47,260. History Members of the Potawatomi Native ...

College career

Holba played college football at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

. While in college he met his wife Lauren Dale Holba, former Ladybird. They married June 23, 2018. He played with Lamar Jackson while at Louisville.

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

Holba was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round, 213th overall, in the

. He was the first Louisville Cardinal to be drafted in the 2017 NFL Draft. On May 11, 2017, the Steelers signed Holba to a four-year, $2.52 million contract with a signing bonus of $129,314. He was selected in the draft to be the replacement for long time veteran Greg Warren. Throughout training camp he competed with

Kameron Canaday Kameron Canaday (born August 20, 1993) is an American football long snapper who is a free agent. He played college football at Portland State and signed with the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 2016. Early years Canaday played hi ...

. On September 2, 2017, Holba was waived after losing the competition for the vacant long snapper position to Canaday.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On November 14, 2017, Holba was signed by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

after long snapper Matt Overton sustained a shoulder injury and was placed on injured reserve. On June 14, 2018, Holba was waived by the Jaguars.

San Francisco 49ers

On December 5, 2018, Holba signed a two-year deal with the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

as a replacement for suspended long-snapper Kyle Nelson. On September 17, 2019, Holba was released by the 49ers. In October 2019, Holba was selected by the

Dallas Renegades The Arlington Renegades are a professional American football team based in Arlington, Texas. The team was founded as the Dallas Renegades by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayn ...

in the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social ...

New York Giants

On November 12, 2019, Holba was signed to the New York Giants practice squad. On November 30, he was signed to the active roster after Zak DeOssie was placed on injured reserve, playing 5 games with the Giants. On April 28, 2020, the Giants waived Holba.

Los Angeles Rams

On December 9, 2020, Holba was signed to the Los Angeles Rams' practice squad.

San Francisco 49ers (second stint)

On December 29, 2020, Holba was signed by the

off the Rams practice squad. He was waived on January 6, 2021.

Los Angeles Rams (second stint)

On January 15, 2021, Holba was signed to the Los Angeles Rams' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 18, 2021. He was waived on May 12, 2021.

Cincinnati Bengals

On December 30, 2021, Holba was signed to the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad. He was released on January 18, 2022.

Retirement

Holba announced his retirement from professional football on February 28, 2022.

References

External links

Louisville Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holba, Colin 1994 births Living people Players of American football from Louisville, Kentucky Eastern High School (Louisville, Kentucky) alumni American football long snappers Louisville Cardinals football players Pittsburgh Steelers players Jacksonville Jaguars players San Francisco 49ers players New York Giants players Los Angeles Rams players Cincinnati Bengals players