Virginia lands No. 1 OT from portal, Louisville’s Mills

By Jerry Ratcliffe

The rebuild of Virginia’s offensive line got a significant boost this weekend when former Louisville starting tackle Monroe Mills committed to Tony Elliott’s program.

Mills is a 6-foot-7, 315-pound standout with one year of eligibility remaining. He was the No. 1-ranked offensive tackle in the transfer portal and the No. 7-ranked player overall, and is a major get for the Cavaliers.

Arguably Louisville’s best offensive lineman last season, Mills owned the second-best grade for a lineman in the entire ACC according to Pro Football Focus, which graded him at 81.6, which was also the 12th-best grade in all of Power 4 football (for players with a minimum 500 blocking snaps). In 11 games, he allowed only one sack and seven QB pressures in 318 pass-blocking snaps.

Mills spent only 2024 at Louisville, where he started the first five games at left tackle and the last five games at right tackle, bothered in between by a lower leg injury.

Prior to his season at Louisville, Mills started at Texas Tech, where he spent two seasons, and began his career at Oklahoma State, where he also spent two seasons, so Virginia will be his fourth school. In 2,335 career snaps, Mills allowed only four sacks.

That is huge for Virginia, which allowed 47 sacks this past season, third-most in the FBS.

Mills was a 3-star coming out of Columbia, Missouri, where he played for Father Tolton Catholic.

Virginia is expected to return both of its starting tackles, McKale Boley (left) and Blake Steen (right), along with left guard Noah Josey. The Cavaliers should get Drake Metcalf back on the O-line after the Central Florida-Stanford transfer missed last season with an Achilles’ injury.

Mills is one of four offensive line transfers to join Virginia, including prized center Brady Wilson of Alabama-Birmingham, where he was a two-time Rimington Trophy candidate. UVA also signed former JMU left guard/tackle Tyshaun Wyatt and former Illinois right guard Kevin Wigenton II.