Wisconsin Running Back Room Season Outlook & Player Expectations
A quick look at the Wisconsin running back room heading into fall camp and analyzing their individual expectations for the season.
With fall camp just around the corner for new head coach Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin football program — BadgerNotes continues our rollout of position previews. We’ve only done QBs thus far.
But I want our position previews and season outlook write-ups to be different than a regurgitated version of what every outlet is putting out.
I want to approach this breakdown by establishing individual player expectations heading into the season so we can more effectively evaluate each player at the end of the season—that way, we can avoid being a prisoner of the moment.
So, let’s review the breakdown of how we define player expectations:
No expectations (walk-ons, true freshmen, practice bodies).
Low expectations (roster fillers, third team players, next man up situation).
Moderate expectations (key backups & role players *how well are you playing the role asked of you).
High expectations (core players of the team you expect to make a big impact in their role or statistically).
Let’s continue our series with the Wisconsin football running backs.
High Expectations
Braelon Allen (JR)
In our high-expectations group, the only Wisconsin football running back that should be in the high-expectations group is preseason Walter Camp All-American selection Braelon Allen.
Allen, a Fond du Lac, Wisconsin native, enters his junior season in Madison coming off back-to-back second-team All-Big Ten campaigns.
The 6-foot-2, 238-pound tailback finished last season with 230 carries for 1,242 yards (5.4 YPC) and 11 touchdowns. He also caught a career-high 13 passes for 104 yards. Pro Football Focus credits him with 671 yards after contact and 2.92 yards after contact per attempt.
With Phil Longo installing his air raid system, Allen should see those eight-man boxes evaporate. He has faced a stacked box more than any other Power 5 running back over the last two seasons.
It will be interesting to see his usage in 2023, but I feel confident saying that his efficiency will see an uptick and, more importantly, he should have a better chance of staying healthy.
He’s the clear-cut RB1 for UW and will likely be off to the NFL after this year. To meet expectations, Allen needs to be an All-Big Ten performer and be one of the focal points of the Wisconsin football offense.
Wisconsin RBs With Moderate Expectations
Chez Mellusi (RS SR)
In the moderate expectations group, the only player I feel comfortable listing here is fifth-year running back Chez Mellusi, who has been the perfect complementary tailback to Braelon Allen.
The 5-foot-11, 205-pound RB has taken 285 carries in the last two seasons for 1,288 yards and seven touchdowns on 4.5 YPC.
His running style is a nice change of pace from Allen, offering more of a one-cut runner who is quicker than he is fast but can explode through a hole while still managing to play bigger than he is.
To meet expectations, Mellusi needs to stay healthy and take on a similar workload to the one we’ve seen him take on in the past for Wisconsin football and to be an above average backup that can spell Agent 0 for a few drives when necessary without sacrificing quality.