The preview of the 2026 Louisville football roster now switches sides, as we move from our coverage of Louisville’s defense to now focusing on the offense.
First up, we take a look at the trenches and preview Louisville’s offensive line.
2025 Rewind
After allowing just 15 sacks and 55 tackles for loss last season (both top-20 nationally), Louisville had a significant dip in 2025. The Cardinals allowed 25 sacks (T-76th nationally) and 70 TFLs (80th nationally).
Louisville’s offensive line had struggles with generating a consistent push in the run game during the first half of the season, including 346 rushing yards and 2.89 yards per carry in a four-game stretch (James Madison to Virginia). But it did show improvement in the second half of the season; Louisville had 1,437 rushing yards in the last seven games and averaged 5.3 yards per carry, highlighted by a season-high 317 yards against Boston College, and 258 against rival Kentucky.
Notable Departures
- OG Jordan Church (transferred to Texas Tech)
- OT Mahamane Moussa (graduated)
- OT Mak Pounders (graduated)
- OT Trevonte Sylvester (graduated)
- C Pete Nygra (graduated)
- OL Rasheed Miller (graduated)
- Offensive line coach Richard Owens (took the same position at Alabama)
2026 Preview
Louisville will have a near complete overhaul of their offensive line in 2026, except for one starter. The Cardinals lost five prominent contributors to graduation, and saw guard Jordan Church (who would’ve been a starter this season) transfer to Texas Tech. Additionally, offensive line coach Richard Owens leaves for the same position at Alabama. Dale Williams returns to Louisville after spending the last two seasons at Syracuse; he’s had multiple stints as an assistant under Jeff Brohm, including his previous stops at Western Kentucky and Purdue.
One guy that is returning is Lance Robinson, who enters his fourth year at Louisville and has been a long-time starter at multiple FBS schools. Robinson is a road grader as a run blocker and has the versatility to play at any guard or tackle spot, and has been seeing reps at center in the spring and summer camps. He likely fits best as a guard that will be a tremendous asset towards their run game, but Louisville would be in good hands with him at center or even at tackle.
Robinson could be used at tackle to start the season, in part due to an injury that could keep Anwar O’Neal sidelined for the first few weeks of the season. O’Neal earned an Honorable Mention for All-Conference USA at Delaware last year, and came to Louisville as a starter before being sidelined with a foot/ankle injury. If O’Neal is fully healthy, Louisville has a surefire option at left tackle and he could be an X-factor towards Louisville’s success.
Louisville added several more transfers to start on the offensive line, including Eryx Daugherty (Boston College), Evan Wibberley (Kentucky), and Johnnie Brown III (Georgia Southern). Brown was a Third Team All-Sun Belt performer last season at Georgia Southern, with Daugherty starting ten games at guard last year for Boston College. Both guys will provide experience inside, and Brown can play tackle in a pinch. Wibberley only saw action in four games last year at Kentucky, but started in 15 games (14 in 2024) at his previous stop in Western Kentucky. If Wibberley can develop into a quality starting center, that will stabilize the interior and allow Robinson to be available to play more spots on the field. It would also allow Louisville to run six offensive linemen sets in short-yardage situations with a ton of confidence.
The only position battle on the offensive line is at right tackle, which has been between Cason Henry and Cameron Gorin. Henry is likely your starter here, having been a former starter at South Carolina (17 starts in the last two season). Gorin is a former three-star recruit out of Fishers, Ind. who only played in two games last season.
Naeer Jackson is a former starter at FIU with 24 career starts for the Panthers, but only saw action in two games last season. Sam Secrest will likely be in the two-deep at center, and is a former three-star recruit from Indianapolis, Ind. Jarvis Strickland is a true freshman that should be in the two-deep depth chart for now and could project into a starting tackle down the road; he was one of Louisville’s first major recruiting wins after Vince Marrow joined the staff last summer, and was the second-ranked recruit from the state of Kentucky in 2025.
Projected Starters: Anwar O’Neal (left tackle), Eryx Daugherty (left guard), Lance Robinson (center/guard/tackle), Johnnie Brown III (right guard), Cason Henry (right tackle)
Key Reserves: Jarvis Strickland (tackle/guard), Evan Wibberley (center), Cameron Gorin (tackle), Naeer Jackson (guard), Sam Secrest (guard/center)
