View source for Kelly Holcomb

{{Short description|American football player (born 1973)}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name          = Kelly Holcomb
| number        = 13, 10
| position      = [[Quarterback]]
| birth_date    = {{birth date and age|1973|07|09}}
| birth_place   = [[Fayetteville, Tennessee]], U.S.
| height_ft     = 6
| height_in     = 2
| weight_lb     = 216
| high_school   = [[Lincoln County High School (Tennessee)|Lincoln County]] (Fayetteville)
| college       = [[Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football|Middle Tennessee State]] (1991–1994)
| undraftedyear = 1995
| pastteams     =
* [[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]] ({{NFL Year|1995|1996}})*
* [[Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe)|Barcelona Dragons]] ({{NFLE Year|1996}})
* [[Indianapolis Colts]] (1996–{{NFL Year|2000}})
* [[Cleveland Browns]] ({{NFL Year|2001|2004}})
* [[Buffalo Bills]] ({{NFL Year|2005|2006}})
* [[Philadelphia Eagles]] (2007)*
* [[Minnesota Vikings]] ({{NFL Year|2007}})
| statleague    = NFL
| statlabel1    = [[Touchdown|TD]]–[[Interception|INT]]
| statvalue1    = 39–38
| statlabel2    = Passing yards
| statvalue2    = 5,916
| statlabel3    = [[Passer rating]]
| statvalue3    = 79.2
| pfr           = HolcKe00 
}}

'''Bryan Kelly Holcomb''' (born July 9, 1973) is an American former professional [[American football|football]] player who was a [[quarterback]] in the [[National Football League]] (NFL). He played [[college football]] for the [[Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football|Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders]]. Holcomb was signed by the [[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]] as an [[undrafted free agent]] after the [[1995 NFL draft]]. He was also a member of the [[Indianapolis Colts]], [[Cleveland Browns]], [[Buffalo Bills]], [[Philadelphia Eagles]], and [[Minnesota Vikings]].

==Early years and family life==
Holcomb attended Lincoln County High School in [[Fayetteville, Tennessee]], and was a student and  [[Letterman (sports)|lettered]] in football as a quarterback, baseball as a shortstop, and basketball and led his football team to the 1990 Tennessee State Championship.
He and his wife Lorie have 3 kids: Kellyn, Jalyn, and Jameson.

==College career==
Holcomb played [[college football]] at [[Middle Tennessee State University]]. During his freshman season in 1991, his near-perfect performance versus then No. 1 ranked Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium versus a secondary that featured future NFL players [[Terrell Buckley]] and [[Clifton Abraham]] put him on the map. For the day, Holcomb completed 20 of 28 passes for 188 yards in his first college start.

He finally broke out statistically as a senior, throwing for over 2,000 yards with 15 TD.

*1991: 130/209 for 1,763 yards with 5 TD vs 4 INT.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.totalfootballstats.com/Team_College.asp?id=108&Season=1991|title=Site is undergoing maintenance}}</ref>
*1992: 92/168 for 1,409 yards with 9 TD vs 6 INT.
*1993: 133/240 for 1,738 yards with 7 TD vs 6 INT.
*1994: 146/244 for 2,154 yards with 15 TD vs 9 INT.

==Professional career==

===World League of American Football===
Holcomb was quarterback for the now-defunct [[Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe)|Barcelona Dragons]] of [[NFL Europe|World League of American Football]] in 1996.

===Tampa Bay Buccaneers===
Holcomb spent the 1995 season on the Buccaneers practice squad. He was released in 1996, as the Buccaneers opted to go with [[Scott Milanovich]] as the team's No. 3 quarterback.

===Indianapolis Colts===
Holcomb was signed by the [[Indianapolis Colts]] as a street free-agent in 1996. His first season he didn't play a regular season game. In 1997, a disappointing season, Holcomb played five games and started one in which he threw only one touchdown and eight interceptions. Holcomb never saw action in a regular season game for the Colts again.

===Cleveland Browns===
A backup to [[Peyton Manning]] of Indianapolis, Holcomb was cut in the 2001 off-season to be allowed to compete for the starting job with the [[Cleveland Browns]], following [[Bruce Arians]] who left as the QB coach of the Colts to become the offensive coordinator of the Browns. The Browns had drafted [[Tim Couch]] with the number 1 pick in the 1999 draft. During their time in Cleveland, Holcomb occasionally outshined the former number one pick. In his first season as a Brown, Holcomb played in only one game which he completed seven of twelve passes for 114 yards and a passing touchdown. In Holcomb's second season he played in four games and started two games in which he threw eight touchdowns and four interceptions with 790 passing yards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://football.about.com/library/weekly/aa010503.htm|title=Introduction to Football|access-date=March 30, 2010|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304075938/http://football.about.com/library/weekly/aa010503.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2003, his third season, he had more playing time playing ten games and starting eight of them. He replaced [[Tim Couch]] as starting quarterback during that season. In that season he threw ten touchdowns and twelve interceptions and had a strong play-off performance in a loss to the Steelers where he threw for 429 yards and three touchdowns, nearly leading a late comeback to win the game.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sbnation.com/2010/1/4/1056106/1-05-2003-steelers-beat-browns-36|title=1/05/2003 - Steelers beat Browns, 36-33|date=January 4, 2010}}</ref> In his final season as a Brown [[Jeff Garcia]] replaced him as starting quarterback. Holcomb only played in four games and started two of them in which he threw seven touchdowns and five interceptions with 737 yards passing.

===Buffalo Bills===
Holcomb went to the [[Buffalo Bills]] before the 2005 season. He started half of the games in his first season as a Bill while [[J. P. Losman]] started the other half. Holcomb threw ten touchdowns and eight interceptions with 1,509 passing yards that season. In Holcomb's second and final season as a Bill he didn't play a regular season game the whole season.

He was traded on March 26, 2007, to the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] with [[Takeo Spikes]] for [[Darwin Walker]] and a conditional [[2008 NFL draft|2008 draft]] pick, which the Bills would use to select [[Stevie Johnson]]. However, Holcomb never played a regular season game as an Eagle and was quickly traded.

===Minnesota Vikings===
On August 27, 2007, the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] traded Holcomb to the [[Minnesota Vikings]] for a sixth round pick in the [[2009 NFL draft]]. Holcomb played and started three games that season throwing two touchdowns and an interception with 515 passing yards. After the 2007 season, the Vikings went on to release him on February 27, 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 27, 2008 |title=Vikings release QB Holcomb |url=https://www.nfl.com/news/vikings-release-qb-holcomb-09000d5d806ebbbd |access-date=2025-03-20 |website=NFL.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Retirement===
On July 7, 2008, it was announced that Holcomb would retire from the NFL.

===Memorable moments===
A [[Wild card (sports)|Wild Card]] game against [[Pittsburgh Steelers|Pittsburgh]] in January 2003 saw Holcomb, playing for the Browns, become the third quarterback in playoff history to throw for more than 400 yards. He finished the game with 429 yards, a new postseason record for a regulation game.

==Broadcasting career/post-playing career==
In 2008, Holcomb joined his alma mater Middle Tennessee as the color commentator for the Blue Raider Radio Network. In addition, Holcomb has broadcast the TSSAA Blue Cross Bowl and was a broadcast member of the [[Music City Bowl]] Preview.

In February 2015, it was announced that Holcomb would be joining the coaching staff at [[Riverdale High School (Murfreesboro, Tennessee)|Riverdale (Tenn.) HS]], where he would be handling offensive coordinator duties.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.footballdb.com/players/kelly-holcomb-holcoke01 NFL Europa bio]
{{Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders quarterback navbox}}
{{Barcelona Dragons quarterback navbox}}
{{Indianapolis Colts starting quarterback navbox}}
{{Cleveland Browns starting quarterback navbox}}
{{Buffalo Bills starting quarterback navbox}}
{{Minnesota Vikings starting quarterback navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holcomb, Kelly}}
[[Category:1973 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American football quarterbacks]]
[[Category:Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders football players]]
[[Category:Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe) players]]
[[Category:Indianapolis Colts players]]
[[Category:Cleveland Browns players]]
[[Category:Buffalo Bills players]]
[[Category:Minnesota Vikings players]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Tennessee]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Fayetteville, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Philadelphia Eagles players]]
[[Category:Tampa Bay Buccaneers players]]