Injuries have finally gotten the best of Malcolm Cook.
Virginia announced in a press release Wednesday that Cook has decided to end his participation and medically retire from the sport. The linebacker will be undergoing surgery this week for a sports hernia that will sideline him for the remainder of the regular season and a bowl game.
Cook is a sixth-year senior who had played in nine games this season, starting two of those contests.
Below is head coach Bronco Mendenhall‘s statement on the development:We had a long and really hard conversation for someone who has gone through so much so many times. He does not have a great understanding yet as to how come he has had this many challenges. But what he does have is a good understanding of how to deal with adversity, how to recover and how to move forward. That has given him great preparation for his life and for his future. I probably have never worked with a player that has had more challenges and more setbacks and more recoveries. It is a difficult thing to have his playing career close for UVA without him being on the field. I think his teammates certainly see that and recognize it as well as all of us on the coaching staff. This last injury has just proven to be lingering, long-lasting and not recoverable enough to get him back on the field within the time frame needed.
In 2017, in what was essentially his only somewhat healthy season in Charlottesville, he started six games for the Cavaliers.