What Chez Mellusi’s injury means for Wisconsin
West Lafayette — When tailback Chez Mellusi went down in the fourth quarter of Wisconsin’s win over Purdue on Friday night, it looked bad right away.
The fear that it was indeed a serious injury was justified when he had to be helped onto a cart and immediately taken to a hospital in West Lafayette. It was confirmed when ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg reported Saturday evening that Mellusi fractured his fibula and is expected to miss the rest of the season.
The Badgers managed to notch a road conference win against Purdue and move to 3-1 with a bye week on deck. For the most part, Wisconsin played well in all three phases and it was an encouraging performance in Luke Fickell’s first Big Ten game as Wisconsin head coach.
The mood around the team after the game, however, was solemn. Walking off the field to the locker room, running back Braelon Allen, who is best friends with Mellusi, looked like he had seen a ghost. Not too far behind him was Fickell, who hurried to the locker room with the purpose and determination of a coach who needed to address an emotionally raw team.
“They’re hurting in there. If we lose him for a while, it’ll be tough,” Fickell said after the game. “He’s not just a great football player for us, he’s not just just a great tailback, he’s the heart and soul of some of the things we do. Because of all the things he’s gone through, the ups and downs, the injuries, to have the attitude that he has, if he can’t play for a while, he’ll still be a big part of what it is we do.”
Mellusi’s injury will clearly shake up the Badgers’ running back room. But first and foremost, it’s a gut-wrenching, emotional gash for a Wisconsin team that looks up to the fifth-year senior in everything he does.
“Chez, like any senior on this team, is the heart of the team. Coach Fickell, he prides himself on our senior class and guys that have been here,” wide receiver CJ Williams said. “It’s more than just his play that Chez brought to the table. It’s the way he led us, the way he came in every day and went to work. That’s something that gives us heart.”
“You can tell it’s from the heart with him,” offensive lineman Trey Wedig said. “Everything he says, he genuinely means it.”
Now, Wisconsin must grapple with a running back room that’s suddenly in hot water. Allen is still the headliner, but he can’t simply pick up the touches Mellusi received. On Friday night, the duo combined for 30 carries. They combined for 30 carries in the opener as well. Against Georgia Southern, they totaled for 27. Meanwhile, Allen still hasn’t topped 17 rushes in a game all season.
Allen is the nucleus of the offense, and Phil Longo and company have clearly been very deliberate about how much work their star halfback receives. It’s especially important to be mindful of his workload considering that the past two seasons, Allen has gotten worn down towards the end of the year. Last season, he missed the Minnesota game and the year before that, he clearly wasn’t himself in the Axe Game.
The Badgers must find a serviceable option to carry the load behind Allen. But with halfbacks Isaac Guerendo transferring in the winter and Julius Davis transferring in the spring, the cupboard looks rather bare in Madison.
The logical next men up are redshirt sophomore Jackson Acker and redshirt freshman Cade Yacamelli. Fickell confirmed this after the game:
“Yeah, Jackson Acker and Cade Yacamelli are guys we’re gonna have to continue to get rolling,” he said.
Also on the roster is true freshman Nate White, as well as walk-ons Zach Glouderman and Grover Bortolotti. The former is a promising quick, twitchy back, but in the brief glimpses reporters got of him during fall camp, he didn’t appear physically ready to handle any kind of significant workload in the Big Ten. He’s currently listed at 5-foot-11, 170 pounds. As for the walk-ons, neither back particularly stood out during offseason practices.
That leaves Wisconsin with Acker and Yacamelli, who each flashed in their own right this offseason. Acker has an intriguing combination of speed and power, and he’s been a fullback and a halfback in his time in Madison.
“Jackson Acker has been a guy that’s played all over the place. When we came in, we didn’t know what he was gonna be. Was he gonna be a fullback that maybe you didn’t have as much? Was he gonna be a tight end, was he gonna move back into a wide receiver spot? Was he gonna play wherever, heck, we talked about moving him over to defense. Not really, but they would let us,” Fickell joked. “But I think he’s a guy that through all of fall camp has really honed his running back skills and I think we’ll see a lot more of him.”
Yacamelli, meanwhile, impressed in a few practices as a receiving threat who has a sneaky second gear.
“Cade is a guy that’s seen a little bit around here. I think going into the season, a lot of people were talking about him being the next guy when these two guys maybe are gone. So he’s gonna get a lot more opportunities to do it, he’s been more of a special teams guy right now,” Fickell said.
Acker and Yacamelli have each flashed in their own right, but both have some question marks. Acker is still learning the finer points of playing halfback and is relatively untested with a sizable workload. Yacamelli doesn’t have a carry to his name at the college level and at times struggled with fumbles during spring practices.
Expect Wisconsin to deploy both backs, at least in the next few weeks, as the offensive staff decides how to replace Mellusi’s production. The Badgers are now on an incredibly slippery slope when it comes to halfback depth. One more injury to that room could spell serious trouble in Madison.
Wisconsin will feel the effects of Mellusi’s injury not just in the backfield, but in the locker room as well. The Badgers have gone from one of the dangerous running back situations in the country to one of the most precarious. Acker and Yacamelli are now thrust into a level of prominence no one saw coming. Those two are now some of the most important players on offense. It’s not realistic to ask them to pick up where Mellusi left off at 6.0 yards-per-carry, nor to fill his leadership role. However, if they can collaborate to stabilize the backup tailback spot, Wisconsin’s offense will be weaker but still potent.
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