Wisconsin football lands Appalachian State transfer DL DeNigel Cooper
Former Appalachian State defensive lineman DeNigel Cooper has committed to the Wisconsin Badgers through the transfer portal.
The University of Wisconsin football program added another transfer to its defensive line room through the portal, bringing in a young defender with live FBS reps under his belt and plenty of runway for development.
Former Appalachian State defensive lineman DeNigel Cooper has committed to the Badgers, giving Wisconsin a rotational interior prospect with three years of eligibility remaining as the coaching staff reshapes the front seven after losing a significant amount of production to graduation.
Cooper is listed at 6-foot-3, roughly 260 pounds, and comes to Madison after a productive redshirt freshman season with the Mountaineers. After redshirting and not seeing the field as a true freshman in 2024, Cooper played in all 13 games during the 2025 season and began carving out a pretty significant role in Appalachian State’s defensive rotation.
This past season tells the story.
In 2025, Cooper finished with 23 total tackles (nine solo), 19 pressures, 12 stops, one tackle for loss, 0.5 sacks, a pass deflection, and two blocked kicks. He logged 395 total defensive snaps, including 236 deployed as a pass rusher. That said, Cooper consistently showed up in early-down rotations and sub-packages rather than just as a situational specialist.
The efficiency was solid across the board.
According to Pro Football Focus, Cooper finished the season with a 66.1 overall defensive grade, including a 66.4 mark as a run defender and a 67.4 grade as a pass rusher. All three metrics landed on the positive side, reinforcing the idea that Cooper was holding his own in a meaningful role.
That matters given where Wisconsin is headed.
This addition gives Wisconsin another practical option who can compete for a spot in the rotation, develop, and help round out a room being rebuilt from the ground up — potentially at the hybrid edge spot that Darryl Peterson occupied last season, where the ability to play with a hand in the dirt while still providing pass-rush value matters. That same skill set can also translate to special teams, where Wisconsin will need to replace some of the interior disruption Ben Barten provided on the field goal unit.
Cooper now joins Illinois State transfer Jake Anderson, West Virginia transfer Hammond Russell IV, and Buffalo transfer Junior Poyser as defensive line additions during the portal window, giving Wisconsin more depth that can live on the line of scrimmage while offering some flexibility in how he’s deployed.
Separately, the Badgers have also added to the edge group this offseason with Arkansas transfer Justus Boone, former Tennessee edge Jayden Loftin, and Hope College pass rusher Liam Danitz, continuing to stock both the front and the perimeter with depth.
On paper, this move makes sense.
Wisconsin lost its top four defensive linemen from last season’s depth chart, leaving only Charles Perkins (73 snaps) and Dillan Johnson (71 snaps) as returning players with experience, along with Nolan Vils (34 snaps). Cooper fits squarely into that plan as a younger defender who has already proven he can handle snaps and maintain assignment discipline.
There’s also a developmental angle here.
Coming out of Camden County High School in Georgia, Cooper was a three-star prospect and an all-state, all-region selection as a senior. He finished his final prep season with 69 tackles (45 solo), 10 tackles for loss, two sacks, an interception, two forced fumbles, and a blocked kick. The high school production was there, but his recruitment stayed relatively quiet, making this more of a traits-and-development bet for the future.
That tracks with how Wisconsin’s staff is rebuilding the front seven.
Under position coach E.J. Whitlow, the emphasis has been on building a group that can rotate bodies, keep snap counts manageable, and stay functional late into games. Cooper gives Whitlow and possibly outside linebackers coach Matt Mitchell another option they can add to the mix.
This is an intriguing addition, no doubt.
Cooper gives Wisconsin a young defensive lineman with college football experience, positive efficiency metrics, and time to develop inside a room that desperately needed some reinforcements. The Badgers staff has continued to stack transfers up front in hopes of raising the floor, building quality depth, and letting competition determine who sees the field.
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