Thursday, Coach Tony Elliott confirmed that graduate offensive lineman Monroe Mills has suffered an ACL injury and will therefore miss the entire 2025 season.
Mills was a cornerstone of Virginia’s transfer class. A transfer from Louisville, he was a 2024 All-ACC Honorable Mention and was graded as the 16th best tackle in the country by Pro Football Focus. As far as transfers go, On3 graded Mills as the best offensive tackle in the portal and the eighth best transfer overall.
Mills’s injury is especially unfortunate given that he likely commanded a large sum of NIL money to don the orange and blue. It would likely have been worth it had he stayed healthy. Mills would have been a significant upgrade over the previous left tackle.
Now that Mills is out for 2025, it is likely that rising senior McKale Boley — the incumbent from the 2024 season — will once again be tasked with protecting the quarterback’s blind side. He garnered a pedestrian 60.4 PFF grade — several neighborhoods below Mills’ 82.3 mark.
Aside from Boley, the tackle depth features some unknowns. Graduate Jack Witmer has not been impressive —- he earned a 57.4 PFF grade — and the other tackle options are two unproven transfers. Graduate Ethan Sipe missed all of 2024 due to injury and is coming from Dartmouth where he faced lackluster competition.
Graduate Tyshawn Wyatt is the other likely candidate to receive playing time, but he also missed all of 2024 due to injury. He is transferring in from James Madison, where he only faced two Power Four opponents in his career, and one of them was Virginia in 2023.
Junior Blake Steen, who received a 66.1 PFF grade, should hold down the right tackle spot decently enough, and graduate Kevin Wigenton II could step in too — but aside from them, there are now serious concerns about the bookends on the Cavalier line.
Had Mills not been injured, he very likely would have provided consistent stability as a proven ACC tackle. Now, Virginia is missing one, and that absence has the potential to derail the Cavaliers’ pivotal fourth season in the Elliott era.
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