Bryan Hudson Serving as the 'Traffic Cop' for Louisville's Offensive Line

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It has been a busy preseason for Bryan Hudson.

The center for the Louisville football program has not only been named to the watch lists for the Outland Trophy and Rimington Award, but was also named to the preseason All-ACC Team. Athlon Sports and Phil Steele also tabbed him as a preseason First-Team All-ACC selection as well.

Hudson's on-field prowess as a player is already well documented, as evidenced by the amount of accolades he has been receiving ahead of the 2023 season. But if you ask some of the people who are around him the most, it's his abilities as a leader for the O-line and a communicator that possibly stand out the most.

"There's a reason he's on every possible watch list known to mankind, and he should be. He's an incredibly talented player, really smart," Purdue transfer and offensive tackle Eric Mille said. "He kind of is our traffic cop out there. And there's one traffic cop. If I say something and Brian says, 'No, we're doing this,' then we're doing what Brian says. It's usually right a whole lot more than it's wrong. He's an incredibly smart guy. Having him be that centerpiece, be kind of the brain of the group, is really great."

The 6-foot-4, 310-pound center was the anchor of one of the more underrated offensive lines in the ACC last season. With a Pro Football Focus grade of 76.9, he was the third-highest rated offensive lineman in the ACC, and the league's second-highest rated center behind NC State's Grant Gibson.

Out of 462 pass block snaps played in 2022, Hudson allowed only four sacks, two quarterback hits and eight hurries all season long. He also committed just one penalty in 914 total offensive snaps played. Hudson was later selected as a Second-Team All-ACC selection for his efforts.

With how high of a level that the Georgetown, Ky. native played at during the 2022 season, it makes it that much more noteworthy that his communication and leadership is what is drawing the most attention from those around him.

"Bryan's just a guy that everybody can go to, and we know he'll be there," offensive tackle Michael Gonzalez said. "He's a very smart football player, he's got great technique, and he's a hard worker. Those are three things you need to be a great O-lineman. Brian is a great leader on this team, and we look up to him to lead the way."

Throughout the first two weeks of fall camp, Louisville's offensive line has looked much better than it did earlier this year in spring ball. The quarterbacks have more time to find their targets, and the rushing lanes have larger.

While a lot of this has had to do with the Cardinals giving their offensive line a much needed boost in the post-spring transfer portal, Hudson's dominance as a blocker and leadership/communication efforts can't be discounted here, either.

"He's been in the fire. He's been out there, he's been in the mix," offensive line coach Richard Owens said. "Same thing with Renato and Mike Gonzalez, JP (John Paul Flores) or Eric Miller. All those guys that have played and came in, they've been in the fire. They've seen a lot of different looks, a lot of different fronts, a lot of moving parts. The communication's there, which is half the battle.

"Communication is key. I tell those guys all the time, we got to over communicate. The more we're on the same page, the more we're going to do the right thing and be consistent."

(Photo of Bryan Hudson: Jim Dedmon - USA TODAY Sports)

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