Throughout his career, Steele has overcome several bouts with cancer to return to playing football at Boston College. The redshirt senior was initially diagnosed with cancer as a junior in high school in 2019. Despite missing his junior season, Boston College remained committed to pursuing Steele.
After playing in 11 games with one start as a true freshman in 2021, doctors removed a small amount of cancerous cells that had appeared on routine scans during the offseason. Steele returned to the field weeks following an operation. The same would be the case after the 2022 season after Steele played in 12 games.
In 2023, the cancer aggressively returned and surgery and chemotherapy forced Steele to miss the season. Steele returned to play in four games in 2024, including a season-high five-tackle performance in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl vs. Nebraska.
In his fifth season in Chestnut Hill, Steele has played in nine games with two starts in 2025 for the Eagles, totaling 16 tackles, including a career-best seven tackles vs. California on September 27, one fumble recovery, one quarterback hit and one pass breakup.
The Piccolo Award has been given annually since 1970 in memory of the late Brian Piccolo to the most courageous football player in the ACC. As a standout running back at Wake Forest, Piccolo was the ACC Athlete of the Year in 1965 and played for the Chicago Bears before his career was cut short when he was diagnosed with cancer. His courageous fight against the disease was an inspiration to the Bears and the entire football community.
Steele joins Mark Herzlich (2010) and Richard Yeargin (2019) as the only Eagles to ever receive the Piccolo Award.
