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NEW YORK, NY (December 17, 2025) – College Sports Communicators, in association with The Associated Press (AP) and the Fiesta Bowl, today named Christian Bodner (S, Liberty University), Byrum Brown (QB, USF) and Bryce Steele (LB, Boston College) as winners of college football's 2025 Comeback Player of the Year Award.
Since 2018, the Comeback Player of the Year Award has recognized college football student-athletes for overcoming injury, illness or other circumstances. At the conclusion of each season, in a vote by a panel of Associated Press college football writers and sports information directors, three college football student-athletes are honored as Comeback Player of the Year Award winners. They will be honored during an on-field ceremony on January 8, 2026 at the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.
Here's a look at the 2025 Comeback Player of the Year Award winners and their inspiring comeback stories.
Christian Bodnar
The redshirt freshman opened the 2024 season as a starting safety and quickly proved he belonged, recording 13 tackles and 2.5 TFLs in his first five games. His breakout performance on October 8 against FIU with seven tackles, a game-clinching sack, and a forced fumble in overtime, should have been the beginning of a star-making trajectory. Instead, it was the last game he would play that year. Just days later, the Brandon, Florida native woke up with a severe headache and was rushed to the emergency room, where doctors diagnosed him with post-infectious encephalitis — a rare condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the brain following a routine illness. The swelling on the left side of his brain impaired the right side of his body, and within days he went from rising defensive standout to losing the ability to walk. He spent a week in the hospital and months in rehabilitation, relearning basic motor skills while the season continued without him. Only in January did he receive full medical clearance, allowing him to finally return to the sport that anchored him through recovery. Fully healthy in 2025, he reclaimed his starting role and emerged as one of the Flames' defensive leaders, starting all 12 games. His season featured a career-high seven tackles against FIU, two sacks versus Missouri State, and back-to-back six-tackle performances to close the year.
2025 STATS: Tackles: 35 solo, 9 assists; 2 sacks, 2 passes defended
Byrum Brown
The Raleigh, NC native starred as the dual-threat quarterback for the South Florida Bulls. Following a breakout season in 2023, his 2024 campaign was derailed when he suffered a serious lower-leg fracture during a game at Tulane on September 28, an injury that forced him to miss the final eight games of the year. He made a two-play cameo in the Hawai'i Bowl and set the stage for his spectacular 2025 season. He responded to the setback with a determined, disciplined rehab process spending up to six hours daily working to restore strength and mobility. By spring 2025, the 6-foot-5-inch 232-lb signal-caller was back on the field showing off renewed burst and speed, even reaching 22 miles per hour in team GPS tracking drills. He reclaimed the starting role this season without missing a beat delivering with both his arms and legs recording six 100-yard rushing games and two 300-yard yard passing games. On November 26 versus UAB he became the only FBS or NFL player in the last 30 years to pass for 200, run for 100 and complete 90% of his passes in a game. Later in the year, he became just the 12th player in FBS history to post 3,000 yards passing and 1,000 rushing in the same season.
2025 STATS: Passing: 226 completions -341 attempts -3158 yards -28 TD-7 Int – 77.6 QBR
Rushing: 175 attempts - 1008 yards - 14 TD
Bryce Steele
Bryce Steele's battle with cancer began in 2019, when he was diagnosed with thymoma as a junior at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, NC. After surgery and radiation, he returned to football and continued to manage small recurrences of the disease in 2021 and 2022, each requiring minor procedures. Despite these early setbacks, during his freshman and sophomore seasons he emerged as one of Boston College's most promising young defenders recording 51 tackles and 4.5 TFL's in 23 games. Everything changed again in 2023 as a routine scan that spring revealed his most serious recurrence yet, with cancer spreading across the lining of his chest wall. Doctors told him he might never play football at a high level again and recommended a career-ending surgery. Instead, he chose aggressive chemotherapy in hopes of preserving his future. The treatments were brutal, and after scans showed limited progress, he ultimately underwent a 15-hour surgery in October 2023, losing part of his diaphragm and spending weeks relearning to walk and breathe. In 2024, he began rebuilding his life, starting with short, painful runs that left him gasping for air. He worked relentlessly through months of rehab. By the end of the 2024 season, he was activated for the final four games including the Pinstripe Bowl versus Nebraska. He completed his career this season playing in 11 games for the Eagles. Earlier this month, Steele was named a recipient of the 2025 Brian Piccolo Award by the ACC, given to the most courageous player in the conference.
2025 STATS: Tackles 9 solo, 7 assists, 1 fumble recovery, 1 pass defended
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