Wisconsin's 2024 football season is right around the corner, so BadgerBlitz.com ranked the top 30 players who we think will be the keys to success for Luke Fickell's squad this year.

Playing time, past performance and positional depth all factored into our staff rankings.

Chez Mellusi transferred to Wisconsin after spending two years with Clemson. He ran for 427 yards and six touchdowns his first two seasons with the Tigers, but was behind one of the best ball-carriers Clemson has ever seen in Travis Etienne.

"While I was at Clemson, I was behind an all-time great. And I did my time, I felt like," Mellusi said. "I got a new running back coach while I was there, and some things kind of happened that I saw, and I felt like I needed a new opportunity. A lot of people understood that, so that's what kind of played a part into that."

The late Gary Brown, Wisconsin's former running backs coach, was a big catalyst for landing Mellusi out of the portal. So was former head coach Paul Chryst.

"Coach (Paul) Chryst wanted to make sure that this was the place for me," Mellusi said. "I knew in my heart that I wanted to be here just from a football aspect, but he wanted me to get here, see what Wisconsin is like, because I had never been here. So it was one of those things where he wanted me to actually be here and get a good feel for it. Once I was here, I really liked it a lot."

We'll start with the obvious: Mellusi's injury history doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. He's missed at least four games in all three of his seasons with the Badgers, and 17 total games over three years. Last season, a fractured fibula against Purdue represented the abrupt end to his fifth-year senior campaign.

If there was a sliver lining to Mellusi's injury last fall, however, it came in the fourth game, meaning the tailback could write 2023 off as a redshirt injury year. Still, it's impossible not to be concerned about Mellusi's health.

"I knew that I was gonna come back better than I was before," he said this spring. "Initially, the plan was for me to not do much during spring. But I think going through winter conditioning and doing all those things, I looked a lot better than the coaches anticipated."

When he's actually on the field, Mellusi has proven that he's one of the better running backs in the Big Ten. He's an explosive runner who can make people miss in the open field, weaving through traffic in the secondary and saving his best cut for last.

Another exciting prospect about having Mellusi as the lead back is that with his elusiveness in the open field, he's a piece that can be moved around the formation in order to find creative ways to get him the ball. That wasn't necessarily the case with Braelon Allen, who's a clear-cut downhill, north-and-south back.

Mellusi only has 12 catches in his Wisconsin career; look for that number to increase exponentially in 2024. He's simply too dangerous to not target out of the backfield several times each game. Mellusi has never truly been a receiving back, but with the backfield now his for the taking, that should change in his final collegiate season.

There's a case to be made that Mellusi deserves to be way higher on this list of most important Badgers heading into 2024. All hell wouldn't break loose if he sustains yet another injury, but it would once again thrust Wisconsin's backfield into an unenviable spot, leaving the Badgers with just one truly experienced ball-carrier in Tawee Walker.

Mellusi isn't only important because of what the offense would look like without him, of course. He's one of the key ingredients for play-caller Phil Longo this year as a fast, explosive tailback who can produce a house call on every handoff. Mellusi is arguably the most critical piece on this offense behind quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.

Mellusi's season-ending injury last year was devastating. It severely handicapped Wisconsin's running back room and brought an emotional, sudden end to what should've been the tailback's sendoff season. It's impossible to forget the look on Allen's face as he walked to the locker room after the Purdue game, knowing his running mate had just been lost for the season. He looked like he had seen a ghost; it was truly chilling.

But perhaps equally stirring is the fatefully fortuitous circumstance of the injury — it happened in game four, preserving one last ride for Mellusi. He now has one final chance to put his talent on display and help bring the Badgers glory. This will be the first year of his Wisconsin career he's not overshadowed by Allen. If Mellusi can stay on the field, he's poised for a career year.

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