Unbreakable Front: Louisville’s Offensive Line Thrives Amid Injuries

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville head coach invested a lot in the offseason on the continued development of the offensive line. Despite Louisville's attention to that unit, injuries have ravaged this group in recent weeks, but the production has yet to diminish.

Despite a recent rash of injuries, the offensive line heads into Saturday's game at Stanford by not allowing a sack in the last two road wins at Boston College and No. 11 Clemson.

"due to injuries and things like that it was good to get guys refreshed. I do think the last six quarters we have made improvements, since the second half of the Boston College game and we have to build on that. It is important to make sure all three segments continue to push themselves to be their best." – Jeff Brohm

Louisville's offensive line featured the same five starters in each of the first four games this fall. However, the Cardinals have used four different combinations over the last five games due to injuries across the line. In total, eight different players have started at least one game on the offensive line.

The Cardinals lost senior Lance Robinson to a season-ending injury in the preseason, while redshirt-senior Renato Brown was still working his way back from an injury suffered during the 2023 season that snapped his streak of 25 consecutive starts. Victor Cutler, Rasheed Miller, Austin Collins and Monroe Mills have each been forced to miss time due to injuries during the season as well.

Despite this, the Cardinals' offensive line has managed to maintain effective play.

"We got a lot of good older guys this year, and we've just been meshing pretty well lately," Mills said. "These last few games, we haven't let up a sack, so that's been really important."

An injury suffered against SMU forced Mills to miss games against Virginia and Miami. Mills has since returned to the lineup and shifted from left to right tackle, a move that both addressed his limitations and provided some stability to the offensive line.

"It was a multitude of things, just how my body felt, just doing different techniques, like different blocks I have to make, which one I felt I could do most consistently and easiest basically,"

Mills noted that his previous experience at right tackle made the recent transition smoother.

"That's kind of what led to the switch," he continued. "But I played right tackle my first year at Texas Tech. So, it wasn't too crazy of a transition, and I feel relatively comfortable [at right tackle]. Obviously, I've played pretty decent, so it hasn't been too bad or too hard of a switch at least."

The consistency from the offensive line has helped Louisville rank fifth in the ACC in fewest sacks allowed and top 20 nationally in both total offense (449.6 yards per game) and passing offense (286.4 yards per game).

Louisville will look to continue its success coming off its bye week in a matchup against Stanford on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET, available to watch on the ACC Network.

Unbreakable Front: Louisville’s Offensive Line Thrives Amid Injuries

Players Mentioned

Renato Brown

Austin Collins

Vic Cutler

Rasheed Miller

Monroe Mills

Lance Robinson

University of Louisville Athletics