Ranking the 25 most important players for Louisville football in 2019

If you haven’t heard by now, an improvement on the offensive line going into Satterfield’s first year is a pretty important piece to Louisville’s success.

That was sarcasm – it’s a really, really important piece.

It’s also the reason why Cole Bentley breaks the top 20. As a rising junior, Bentley has already experienced a lot with Louisville. Playing in 7 games his freshman season, he was part of a high powered offense that finished 11th in the country in points per game with an average of 38.1 and right under 500 yards per game as well. Bentley has also endured through the struggles of last season, playing both center and guard.

Along with Mekhi Becton, Louisville is now looking to Bentley for experience and consistency as one of the leaders of the O-line.

Something (or someone) that should greatly help Cole and the other lineman have a successful season, is the addition of new Offensive Line Coach and Co-Offensive coordinator Dwayne Ledford.

It can’t be understated how great of a hire Ledford is for the Cards. Over the course of the last three years, Ledford’s NC State squad has allowed less sacks than Louisville did just this year alone. Appalachian State ranked 25th in the country in 2018 in sacks allowed, while NC State ranked 3rd. For comparison’s sake, Louisville ranked 128th.

A previous BRL article sums it up pretty well:

"“Louisville and Scott Satterfield shocked a lot of people in the ACC and nationally when they inked Dwayne Ledford to a new deal two weeks ago. Ledford is considered one of the better offensive line coaches in the country. While at NC State, he took a team who was reeling on the offensive line in 2015 and made the Wolfpack one of the best offensive lines in the country over the course of the next three seasons, allowing just 39 sacks over the course of the last three seasons. For reference, that is less than Louisville allowed just in 2018 alone. Along the way, Ledford took three star prospects and turned them into some of the best linemen in the country. Consider Garrett Bradbury, an NC State offensive linemen who, until Ledford’s arrival, played on the defensive line. He was recruited out of high school as a low-end three star recruit and started at State as a tight end. Five years later, under Ledford’s direction, he was named the Rimington award winner for the best center in the country. That is the kind of coach that Dwayne Ledford is.”"

He’s competed with graduate transfer T.J. McCoy through fall camp at the center spot, but has also played snaps at the guard spot as well. As of now we have no real answer as to where he will line up, but being experienced at both spots should be a big help to Ledford and the lineup he plays this fall.

Look for legitimate improvement from the offensive line this season – with Bentley being one of the bright spots in the turnaround.