MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Between players and the position coach alike, West Virginia’s running back room has an entirely different look from last season.
Fortunately, it features Cam Cook, the only tailback of five on the Mountaineers’ roster at present with Division I game experience.
Cook, who spent two seasons at TCU and the 2025 campaign at Jacksonville State, is back in the Big 12 Conference after joining WVU this offseason.
His track record from the 2025 campaign featured a FBS best 1,659 rushing yards on 295 carries with 16 touchdowns for the Gamecocks.
“It definitely helped me build my confidence to go out there and play however I wanted to, play fast and show I have multiple styles, and you can’t just put me in one box and think you can shut me off that way,” Cook said. “Last year, I played in the slot, motioned into the backfield, motioned out of the backfield.”
The breakout 2025 season with the Gamecocks came after Cook made an impact, albeit on a smaller scale, over two seasons with the Horned Frogs. He rushed for 58 yards as a true freshman in 2023, before taking on a more featured role with 119 carries for 460 yards and nine touchdowns the following season, which began with Cook battling an injury that limited him to nine games for the year.
Cook is now the elder statesman among primary ball-carriers at West Virginia and part of a position group that includes one returning player in Andre Devine, who has never logged a collegiate carry.
“I tell guys about experiences I’ve gone through and try to help them that way,” Cook said. “Mostly I try to lead by example and whatever coaches are saying is what needs to be done.”
At 5-foot-9, 202 pounds, Cook has a solid stature, which combined with his production, allowed for the second-most carries and most rushing attempts per game of any non-quarterback at the FBS level last season.
Cook also had 54 carries of 10-plus yards last year — 11 more than the next closest player.
That his lone season at Jacksonville State came directly after WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez left the Gamecocks for his second stint to guide the Mountaineers is somewhat ironic. Yet despite having never played for Rodriguez, Cook has familiarity with offensive line coach Rick Trickett, who returned to Morgantown this offseason as offensive line coach after holding that same title at Jacksonville State each of the previous four years.
Trickett has an extensive past working alongside Rodriguez at WVU from 2001-06.
“Every day is a grind. The way he coaches his guys makes you want to work harder,” Cook said of Trickett. “It makes it seem like you’re not working hard enough.”
As Cook acclimates to West Virginia and the fast-paced attack Rodriguez prefers, he does so with a new running backs coach as well in Jay Boulware.
Boulware had been running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Kentucky the previous three years and came on in January as the replacement to Larry Porter.
“Cam has been with coach Trickett, but it’s a completely new room. I enjoy that, too,” Boulware said. “We kind of learned it all together and took it step by step. It wasn’t this is what we did last year. Everything is this is what I know, so this is what you guys are going to know. Everything is fresh.”
Having Cook adds a level of comfortability in the room as a result of his past production, while extensive experience at multiple levels of college football allow the Round Rock, Texas native to pass on knowledge.
“He’s played in a game this level, which is more than everybody else in the room can say,” Boulware said. “He’s our experienced guy. He’s our veteran. I can tell him something one time and he pretty much gets it. That in itself is leadership. The other guys see that Cam is picking us up and they try to do it. Having Cam in the room is a tremendous blessing. Glad we went and got him. It really pays off right now, because everyone else in that room is new. That’s the challenge.”