Fully recovered Chez Mellusi part of Wisconsin's ‘good problem’ at tailback
On the last Saturday of November in 2021, the streaking Badgers needed just one more win to punch their ticket to the Big Ten title game. Only Minnesota stood in the way.
“Out of all the games I missed,” senior tailback Chez Mellusi said, “That was probably the most difficult for me to watch on the couch.”
Wisconsin would fall to the Golden Gophers, 23-13. The dominant rushing attack that carried the Badgers to the Axe Game sputtered out, with a worn-down Braelon Allen only managing 47 yards on 17 carries. Mellusi, who tore his ACL three weeks earlier in Piscataway, N.J., was forced to watch helplessly.
“That one especially ate at me because I feel like I could’ve changed the game," Mellusi said. "And when you feel like you could’ve done something to make it different, it almost makes it worse.”
Now, Mellusi is back to full health and in the midst of fall camp with a deep running back room. Allen is the returning superstar, while Isaac Guerendo has also worked his way back from an injury-riddled campaign and has plenty to offer with his blend of speed and power. It’s no secret the group has lofty expectations — Allen has openly compared them to the great Badgers trio of Melvin Gordon, Montee Ball and James White. But to get to this precipice of greatness wasn’t an easy road, especially for Mellusi.
“It was brutal. Just from the standpoint of, you can’t really do much in the beginning,” the running back said of his ACL recovery.
Suffering his season-ending injury so late in the season, Mellusi was given a tight window to make a full recovery in time for the season opener. A little over nine months later, he’s healthy and fully immersed in fall camp.
“Not even just ACL. My body as a whole feels great,” Mellusi said. “Coach (Paul) Chryst kinda has me on a pitch count on certain days when he decides, but honestly my recovery is going really great. I’m a full participant, I’m 100 percent.”
With any ACL injury, though, precautions are necessary. These are the kinds of injuries that used to end careers. Now that the surgery is more widely performed, that’s no longer the case. But Mellusi understands the gravity of his injury, and that there’s a difference between being healthy and being in Big Ten running back shape:
“I feel great, but am I gonna be able to cut on a 90 degree angle when someone’s chasing me? That’s what I’ve been working on the most.”
There’s a serious mental aspect to a knee injury like that as well. Will you still be able to cut like you once did, run as fast as you once were? When you go to plant that left leg, will it give out? Is it ready for a hit? The fact that it was a non-contact injury can only heighten those fears.
According to Mellusi, his road to recovery was a mental battle as much as it was a physical one. The running back didn’t practice in the spring, instead taking the time to rest and continue his recovery, rather than trying to ramp up too quickly.
“It’s all mental, but once you get over that it’s a grind, and I kinda like grinding,” he said. “It is what it is, and I took advantage of it.”
By all accounts, Mellusi has hit the ground running in his recovery.
“He’s been working his way back in, working hard,” new offensive coordinator Bobby Engram said. “One thing you see with Chez is he’s willing to be a physical runner, that’s one thing that really jumped out to me initially.”
The fact that Mellusi has been willing to be physical has to be encouraging for the coaching staff and entire team. Coming back from such an injury, a little tentativeness is expected. It often takes time to regain the confidence needed to be the football player you once were.
“He’s done really well, he constantly wants more and more. He’s trying to find that right balance to make sure that he’s on the right path to the goal of the season and get the reps that he needs, but also trying not to overdo it,” running backs coach Al Johnson added. “He’s done a great job, he’s been enthusiastic, he’s into it at meetings, and physically, he looks really good so far.”
Johnson isn’t messing around. At the last practice open to reporters on Monday, Mellusi took a handoff from Graham Mertz and broke off a long touchdown run, using receiver Chimere Dike as his lead blocker downfield.
Perhaps the biggest strength of the Badgers’ running back group is how they can complement each other. Having a bevy of talent in the room hasn’t disrupted the offense’s rhythm and hasn't created ego problems. Johnson called it a “good problem to have.”
“This running back room is super close...Everyone wishes success upon each other,” Mellusi said.
The revolving door of starting-caliber backs for the Badgers should be beneficial to their on-field performance as well. Not having to feed one back as a workhorse will keep legs fresh.
“I'm definitely excited to have both (Chez) and Isaac back,” Allen said. “We’ll be able to recover, rest a little bit both during practices and games.”
Together in the backfield, Mellusi envisions a three-headed monster.
“Everyone is so different," he said. "Braelon is a bigger back but he can also do it all. (Guerendo) is a speedster but he’s also not a smaller back and I feel like he can do it all. I’m balanced, I can do pretty much everything they can do…I feel like all of us could go to other schools and play instantly.”
Behind the scenes, Mellusi has worked hard to get to this point — ready to contribute to what has a chance to be a very memorable Wisconsin backfield. The production of Gordon, Ball and White will be tough to match. But Mellusi, who, along with his backfield mates, are in a group chat with the former Badger greats, knows what it means to carry the football at Wisconsin.
“Obviously you wanna be like those guys, you wanna be better than them. They paved the way for us.”
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