Cavaliers Now

UVA Football Lands Louisville Offensive Tackle Transfer Monroe Mills

Matt Newton

Louisville Athletics
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Virginia boosted its offensive line with a big-time addition from the transfer portal as Louisville transfer offensive tackle Monroe Mills committed to the Cavaliers on Friday (January 10) following an official visit, as first reported by 247Sports' Allen Trieu. Mills, who started 31 total games at both tackle positions over the last three seasons at Texas Tech and Louisville, is one of the most experienced offensive linemen to hit the portal this offseason and comes to UVA with one year of eligibility remaining.

A 6'7", 315-pound offensive lineman from Columbia, Missouri, Mills has played 2,335 snaps over the course of his college football career, but has allowed only four total sacks. An injury late in his high school career somewhat disrupted his recruitment, but Mills still drew a ton of interest from major conference programs and ultimately committed to Oklahoma State over offers from Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Rutgers, Iowa State, Kansas, and others.

After playing in just two games in his first two seasons in Stillwater, Mills entered the transfer portal and headed to another Big 12 school in Texas Tech. An ankle injury caused him to miss three games in 2022, but Mills still started 10 games and played 856 offensive snaps at right tackle. He was Texas Tech's highest-graded offensive lineman that season according to Pro Football Focus, allowing only one sack over 524 pass-blocking plays and he had a 97.5 pass-blocking efficiency grade.

In 2023, Mills made the transition to the other side of the offensive line, starting 11 games at left tackle. He allowed two sacks and 15 pressures on 476 pass-blocking snaps and played 894 offensive snaps at left tackle that season for the Red Raiders. Mills improved his pass blocking efficiency grade to 98.2 in 2023 over 2022.

Mills then entered the transfer portal again and committed to Louisville for the 2024 season. He started 10 games at left tackle for the Cardinals and was graded as the team's second-best offensive lineman by Pro Football Focus this season. In week 10, Mills was named the ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week for his performance in Louisville's big upset win at Clemson. At the end of the year, Mills was named an All-ACC honorable mention.

It's difficult to overstate how significant this addition is for the Cavaliers, who have struggled to achieve consistency with their offensive line throughout the entirety of the Tony Elliott era. In 2024, Virginia gave up 47 total sacks; only Florida State gave up more sacks in the regular season in the entire country.

UVA is expected to return both of its starting tackles from last season in McKale Boley (LT) and Blake Steen (RT) as well as starting left guard Noah Josey. The Cavaliers lost two-time All-ACC center Brian Stevens, but are replacing him with one of the top centers in the country in UAB transfer Brady Wilson, who was twice named to the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, presented to the nation's top center. Virginia also added JMU transfer Tyshawn Wyatt, who has extensive experience starting at both left guard and left tackle, and Illinois transfer Kevin Wigenton II, who has experience at right guard. Finally, the Cavaliers are also bringing back former UCF transfer Drake Metcalf, who missed the entire 2024 season with an Achilles injury.

Altogether, that means Virginia's offensive line depth chart could look something like this next season:
LT: McKale Boley, Tyshawn Wyatt
LG: Noah Josey, Grant Ellinger
C: Brady Wilson, Drake Metcalf
RG: Blake Steen, Kevin Wigenton
RT: Monroe Mills, Ethan Sipe

Virginia offensive line coach Terry Heffernan should have plenty of pieces to field an effective and deep offensive line in 2025.

Mills is the second Louisville transfer Virginia has picked up this offseason, as the Cavaliers also landed safety Devin Neal from the Cardinals back on December 15th. Mills is the eighth offensive player to transfer to Virginia this offseason, joining quarterbacks Chandler Morris (North Texas) and Daniel Kaelin (Nebraska), running back J'Mari Taylor (NC Central), center Brady Wilson (UAB), wide receiver Jahmal Edrine (Purdue), and offensive linemen Tyshawn Wyatt (JMU) and Kevin Wigenton II (Illinois).

Virginia has landed 16 transfer commitments from the portal this offseason:

Keep track of all of UVA's transfer portal activity, including outgoing and incoming transfers, here: Virginia Football Transfer Portal Tracker

Stay up to date on all of the transfers who have received offers from Virginia or who have scheduled visits to UVA here: Tracking UVA Football's Offers and Visits in the Transfer Portal

More Virginia Football News

Report: Virginia Hosting JMU Wide Receiver Transfer for Visit

UVA Football Adds PFF All-American Long Snapper Bryce Robinson

What Does Antonio Clary's Return Mean for Virginia Football

Virginia Football Adds Standout UNLV DE Transfer Fisher Camac

Offensive Lineman Tyshawn Wyatt Set to Join Virginia Football

Grading Virginia Football's Transfer Portal Pickups So Far

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.