Denim Cook Looks to Grow Into Powerful Edge Rusher | Pitt All 105

Pitt All 105 is a Pittsburgh Sports Now series profiling each member of the Pitt 2025 training camp roster. In order to prepare for Pitt football’s 2025 season, PSN is breaking down every player on the roster in alphabetical order. Next up is defensive end Denim Cook.

Denim Cook spent most of his high school career lining up at safety or linebacker for Bishop Hartley in Ohio.

When it came to the recruiting side, his size had schools looking at him as a versatile edge rusher option at either linebacker or defensive end.

The biggest difference, however, was that Cook was always a stand up edge rusher and never put his hand in the dirt, but that has changed since enrolling at Pitt in the spring.

“I’m really open to it,” Cook said about the adjustment in January. “Coach Daoust is a great teacher. I feel like he’s going to put me in the best position to be great, whether it’s putting my hand in the dirt or standing up.”

Pit defensive end Denim Cook (50) during a spring drill. April 8, 2025 — Ed Thompson / PSN

Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 255 pounds
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

Prior to Pitt: Cook was one of the top pass rushers in Ohio throughout his high school career, but his senior season was cut short due to injury.

As a junior, he compiled 115 tackles, 22 tackles for loss, 15 sacks and 17 quarterback hurries, along with All-District, All-Conference and All-State honors, according to 247Sports.

The recruiting service rated Cook as a three-star prospect, the 104th linebacker in the 2025 class and 39th overall player in Ohio.

He committed to Pitt in July of 2024 after an official visit over other offers from Akron, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Liberty, Louisville, Marshall, UMass, Miami (Oh.), Ohio, Purdue and Toledo.

Camp outlook: Cook slowly incorporated himself into the Pitt defense during the spring. He started camp still working back from his injury and spent the first few days working with the trainer. He then started working in team drills, but would be out for the spring game.

In the fall, Cook will be working with a mixed group of defensive ends that has its fair share of experienced players, which will help his growth in Year 1.

Projected role: Cook will most likely spend the entire season on scout team and preserve a redshirt, along with fellow true freshman JuJu Anderson.

The defensive end room has plenty of competition in front of Cook to decide the two-deep roster and he is still has a bit of time before he truly has a chance to compete for a spot.

Nonetheless, Cook is big and has power to him. Once fully healthy, he could be on the path to being an impact edge rusher in the future.

A quote about Cook: “The kid does a lot of different things on tape,” defensive line coach Tim Daoust said. “He’s playing outside linebacker, middle linebacker, defensive end. If he walked in the room, you’d see him and be like, ‘OK.’ His days of standing behind the defense and scrapping off the top are over. Put your hand in the ground and come off the edge.”