Wisconsin (2-2 straight up, 0-4 against the spread) senior running back Chez Mellusi is stepping away from the program, according to a statement released by the team on Thursday.
“We want to let people know that Chez is going to be stepping away from the team for now and working to get his body healthy,” the statement reads. “He’s endured many injuries and has worked extremely hard to be able to play this year, but his body hasn’t responded the way he expected. We’re here to support Chez in any way we can and hope he’ll be back on the football field again one day.”
In the Badgers’ first four games, Mellusi has produced a team-high 232 rushing yards, three touchdowns and a 4.1 yards-per-carry average. He has six catches for 17 yards.
Mellusi sustained a broken leg and ankle in a Week 4 win at Purdue last season, causing him to miss UW’s last nine games. He had 306 rushing yards, four TDs and a 6.0 yards-per-carry average before going down.
In 2022, Mellusi missed four games with a broken arm. In nine contests that year, he had 473 rushing yards, two TDs and a 4.2 YPC average. He also had two receptions for 25 yards and one TD.
After playing in 21 games at Clemson to start his collegiate career in 2019 and 2020, Mellusi transferred to Wisconsin and had his best season in 2021 when he ran for 815 yards, five TDs and sported a 4.7 YPC average.
For his career in 47 games, Mellusi has 2,253 rushing yards, 20 TDs and a 4.9 YPC average. In addition, he has 23 career catches for 158 yards and two TDs.
We’ve seen the trend of players bolting on their teams to retain a year of eligibility before playing in a fifth game over the last two weeks. It’s unclear if this is a similar move by Mellusi because he’s in his sixth year.
With his injury history, I would think he’d have a decent chance of being granted a seventh year on an appeal to the NCAA. The team statement seems to leave the door open for a potential return this season, but that scenario appears unlikely.
Wisconsin has lost back-to-back games at home vs. Alabama (42-10) and at USC (38-21). As of early Friday, the Badgers were listed as 13.5-point home favorites for Saturday’s Big Ten tilt vs. Purdue. The total was 45 points.