Chez Mellusi on departure from Wisconsin: ‘I wasn’t OK with being the fourth-string guy’

MADISON, Wis. — An early-October text message The Athletic sent to Chez Mellusi went unreturned for 156 days — past the end of the season he didn’t finish and past the pro day he didn’t attend. All that was known during that time came from a program statement noting Mellusi, Wisconsin’s starting running back, had stepped away from the team after four games so he could work to get his body healthy. Mellusi, meanwhile, remained silent.

Then came an unexpected text reply from Mellusi this month. He knew it had been a while. But he couldn’t stop thinking about the way his Badgers and college football playing career finished. He estimated that at least 100 people had walked up to him in his hometown of Naples, Fla., since he returned, asking what he injured and how he was progressing. Mellusi didn’t know how to answer them. So, now that it wouldn’t be a distraction to his former teammates, he is speaking publicly about what happened for the first time “to shed some light on this past season and the decision I made,” he said.

Mellusi carried 56 times for 232 yards with three touchdowns during four games last season as a sixth-year senior, which included starts against South Dakota, Alabama and USC. During that USC game, a 38-21 loss on Sept. 28, Mellusi produced just 10 carries for a season-low 32 yards. When the team reconvened for practice early the next week, Mellusi, 23, recalled being asked by running backs coach Devon Spalding to stay after a meeting to talk.

According to Mellusi, Spalding told him that he would be the fourth-string running back that week — behind Tawee Walker, Darrion Dupree and Cade Yacamelli — leading up to a home game against Purdue.

“I thought he was joking,” Mellusi said. “Like, I thought he was kidding. I didn’t really understand it at first, and then I realized that he was being serious.”

Mellusi said he practiced that day but met with Spalding again afterward for further discussion. He said Spalding told him he didn’t believe Mellusi was playing his best football and that Spalding wanted to use some younger players. Mellusi said he then spoke with Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell.

“I had a very long conversation with coach Fickell,” Mellusi said. “I was kind of just sitting there. I could’ve gone to any school in the country, and you guys told me to come back here, and I wanted to come back here because I love this place, and I love Madison.

“He went on to tell me about how my body is not the same and how I’ve been complaining about how my body hurts. There is some truth to that because obviously I had my fair share of injuries. But I was never, ever hurt. I was never on the injury report for anything that wasn’t major during this past season. So the whole scenario of me being hurt and rehabbing was not true. They moved me to fourth string. I wasn’t really open and OK with just sitting on the bench for my last six games, seven games there.”

Mellusi said he decided that, rather than spend the remainder of the season likely not playing at all, he would leave the program. He said he met with Fickell again to determine how to publicly frame the departure in a way that protected Mellusi and avoided distractions and was OK with saying he would be leaving to rehab injuries.

“I went back home literally like a week later, packed all my stuff up,” Mellusi said. “I had a bunch of dinners with my teammates kind of explaining to them the whole situation, and they didn’t quite understand what was happening. A lot of them even tried to get me to stay. But that ship had kind of already sailed.

“The coaches were telling me they thought that I wasn’t the same player, and I was like a shell of myself were some of the words that they were saying. It was definitely hard. But if that’s the honest truth, then that’s the honest truth. I’m a grown man. I took that. I put a lot of time in and obviously made a bunch of relationships with the team. But I wasn’t OK with being the fourth-string guy.”

Fickell declined to comment through an athletic department spokesperson this week.

Mellusi spent two seasons at Clemson before transferring to Wisconsin ahead of the 2021 season. He played in 26 games for the Badgers with 13 starts and ran for 1,827 yards and 14 touchdowns. But he dealt with a variety of injuries that forced him to miss 17 games during his first three seasons at Wisconsin.

In 2021, he tore the ACL in his left knee during the second half of a victory against Rutgers, which sidelined him for the final four games. He broke his arm at midseason in 2022 and missed four more games. Then came a season-ending injury late in a Week 4 victory against Purdue in 2023. Mellusi fractured his left fibula and dislocated his ankle, which required a full ankle reconstruction. Because the injury occurred before Mellusi played in a fifth game, he was able to obtain a medical redshirt season and opted to return in 2024.

Mellusi was not expected to participate much during spring practice but instead came back ahead of schedule. He said last spring that he was 85 to 90 percent of the way to knocking off the rust in his game.

“I thought my trainers put me in a good spot to compete and perform,” Mellusi said. “The coaching staff put me out there. It’s not like, ‘Oh, they were forced to put me out there.’ I put myself out there, and I felt like I was performing at a high level. I just don’t think that we were necessarily playing great football as a whole unit. I was definitely working out some kinks when it came to just getting comfortable with some things. But I felt pretty damn good, especially during the spring as well because I wasn’t supposed to play spring football, and I still did.

“I thought that for me — and you know how open and honest I am and where I was at in my career — if they thought I wasn’t playing my best ball, kind of just tell me. But if there’s anything I’m doing wrong or what I need to do better at, don’t automatically just move me to the four. It’s kind of crazy is how I thought about it, which is fine. They make the decisions based on what they think is best, which is why I had to make the decision of what was best for me.”

Fickell said early in the week of the Purdue game that he wanted to shorten the running back rotation to allow players to gain a better rhythm. Walker, who carried 12 times for 55 yards and two touchdowns against USC, was elevated into the starting role. Dupree then became the backup. Walker finished the season with 864 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, while Dupree ran for 317 yards and one touchdown with 12 catches for 119 yards. Walker transferred to Cincinnati this offseason, and Dupree is expected to contend for Wisconsin’s starting job as a sophomore.

Wisconsin was 2-2 at the time of Mellusi’s departure. Three weeks earlier, after Mellusi ran for two touchdowns in a victory against South Dakota, Fickell said, “This is the best I’ve seen him” as a leader and someone who could provide a spark. He noted Mellusi served as a great reminder that even older players could demonstrate growth.

Wisconsin won its next three games following Mellusi’s departure while Walker thrived, rushing for 418 yards and six touchdowns. But the Badgers closed the season with five consecutive losses, during which time Fickell fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo. They averaged 3.5 yards per rushing attempt in that stretch with one total rushing touchdown, finished 5-7 and missed a bowl game for the first time in 23 years. Mellusi was asked whether he believed he was a scapegoat for Wisconsin’s offensive failures.

“It’s funny that you said that word,” Mellusi said. “Because it certainly does feel that way. But it’s so tough. It’s such an interesting situation. That’s why I had to remove myself from it.”

Mellusi said he has decided his football career is over. He said he was told by agents that his best path to the pros would be to try to play a full season in college — something he was not able to accomplish while at Wisconsin. Rather than attempt to pursue a seventh season, Mellusi opted to move on from the sport. He earned his undergraduate degree in communication arts and was working toward a master’s degree in sports leadership. He said he was just a few credits shy of completing his master’s program and could finish it at a later date.

Mellusi plans to remain active physically. He said he expects to fly to Fiji next month to work on the CBS television show “Survivor” as a tester for challenges before contestants participate in them. He will be part of what is called the Survivor Dream Team. Although he has mixed emotions about his football career, he is eager for the future.

“It was definitely a roller coaster,” Mellusi said. “That’s to say the least. This isn’t even any shade toward the coaches. I’ve been around a bunch of coaches. Whatever decision they think is best, that’s that. I don’t have any hate towards them. It is what it is. But I think the truth is definitely what’s important to me.

“I think the experience has kind of made me a better man, more mature. But football at Wisconsin, it’s a blue-blood program that I went there for a reason. I met brothers, family members. I think that playing running back there holds a huge weight. All the friends that I’ve made, teammates, coaches included, I loved it. I’m super thankful for my time at Wisconsin.”

(Top photo: John Fisher / Getty Images)

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