Wisconsin football's Chez Mellusi talks about battling back from another serious injury

MADISON – Wisconsin running backs coach Devon Spalding and three members of his unit – Chez Mellusi, Tawee Walker and Jackson Acker – met with reporters on Friday.

Here are selected comments from Spalding and Mellusi, who is coming off his third major injury in three seasons at UW.

Q: Chez, you missed nine games after suffering a gruesome left leg/ankle injury in the Big Ten opener at Purdue. That was your third major injury in three seasons at UW. Can you share how difficult it has been to deal with another serious injury?

Mellusi: It definitely sucks, but everyone’s journey is different. And at this point I’m just so used to it. It’s never been easy, and I don’t even know if I want it to be easy. It is part of my story and at this point I am just embracing it and I think it is going to make for an even better story at the end of the day.

Q: Chez, you suffered a torn ACL in 2021, a broken arm in 2022 and a broken fibula/dislocated ankle last season. You’re aware you are viewed as injury prone?

Mellusi: A lot of people throw injury prone out there. I’ve had my fair share of injuries. Injury prone (is) where someone is injuring the same thing multiple times over and over and over again. I think at the end of the day I just have (expletive) luck sometimes. I think there is a difference. I didn’t mean to curse. My bad, y’all.

Q: Devon, after Mellusi went down with the injury at Purdue you had Braelon Allen and several inexperienced backs, including Acker and Yacamelli. With Mellusi back, Walker joining Jackson Acker and Cade Yacamelli and three freshmen signees, will the team be better equipped to handle an injury to a key player?

Spalding: Naturally we’re going to be deeper because we’re going to have more bodies in the room. And I think there’s guys that played some meaningful snaps that allowed them to grow with confidence.

Q: Chez, head coach Luke Fickell initially thought you wouldn’t be able to do much work on the field this spring. Was it important to you to get back sooner? Was it you decision?

Mellusi: Me being available during spring was important because instead of knocking the rust off during fall camp, I wanted to do it now. It wasn’t just my decision. It wasn’t up to me. But I looked good pretty early on (in winter workouts) so it just turned into: Let Chez do more.

Q: Devon, what did the team miss in 2023 after Mellusi suffered the injury at Purdue?

Spalding: I think Chez is a very decisive runner. I think he’s got a good feel for all the run schemes that we do. Being able to have him back with that comfortability, it doesn’t matter what play gets called. I know that we’re going to advance that football. That is what you get with him consistently.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin football's Chez Mellusi eager to return in 2024 after injury