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Wisconsin RB Chez Mellusi, team’s leading rusher, stepping away from Badgers

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

Wisconsin running back Chez Mellusi leads the Badgers with 232 rushing yards through the first 4 games of the season. However, he is stepping away from the program in an attempt to fully rehab his body and get back to full health.

In a statement from the program shared by Colten Bartholomew with Badger Extra, Mellusi is stepping away to continue rehabbing from injuries that have hindered his performance. According to the Badgers, Mellusi worked hard to play this season but his body did not respond as expected.

Per a spokesperson cited by Bartholomew, there is an open door for Mellusi to return to the team this season. Here is the statement:

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. 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.

While Mellusi leads the Badgers in total rushing yards, Tawee Walker is up to 147 yards in just 3 games, and Cade Yacamelli is averaging 7.3 yards per carry on 21 carries this season. Mellusi’s usage and effectiveness also dwindled each week of the season.

After 19 carries in the season opener and 35 carries across the first 2 games of the season, Mellusi had just 21 total carries combined across the Alabama and USC games. Mellusi had 10 carries against the Trojans while Walker had 12 and Yacamelli had 1.

Just this week, head coach Luke Fickell had expressed a desire to find a true lead RB for the Badgers moving forward. With Mellusi exiting the picture for the time being, Walker and Yacamelli are likely to split the carries, but we’ll see who gets the first crack at the lead role in Week 6.

Mellusi is in his fourth season with the Badgers after beginning his career at Clemson. He has been a productive player with over 1,900 yards from scrimmage and 15 touchdowns in Madison, but Mellus has never been able to put together a full season.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.