Wisconsin RBs Mellusi and Allen make the Doak Walker Watch List
The Wisconsin Badgers are firmly in the discussion for the title of 'Running Back U.'
Since 1999, the Badgers have had four different players win the Doak Walker Award, given annually to the top running back in the country, and five times overall in that span.
Since the award's inception in 1990, Wisconsin has won the trophy more than any other school, including four times in eight seasons from 2012-2019 with Montee Ball, Melvin Gordon, and Jonathan Taylor (2x) taking home the honor.
So to the surprise of no one, the Badgers were one of only 13 schools to have two preseason honorees this season, as senior Chez Mellusi and sophomore Braelon Allen each made the Doak Walker Watch List on Wednesday.
The running back duo enters the 2022 season as one of the best tandems in college football and with sky-high expectations.
Allen burst onto the scene in the middle of his freshman season last year, rushing for 1,268 yards and 12 touchdowns despite only recording 12 carries in the team's first four games. In the final nine games of the season, Allen recorded eight 100-yard games and combined to run for over 400 yards and six touchdowns in two games against Northwestern and Nebraska late in the year. Allen's efforts led to him becoming a freshman All-American, and he finished the year as a second-team All-Big Ten selection a year ago.
For Allen this is not his first watch list of the off-season, as he previously made the Maxwell Award Watch List, given to the most outstanding player in all of college football earlier this week.
A big reason for Allen's delayed entry into college football prominence was running back Chez Mellusi, who began last year as the starter.
Mellusi started the first nine games of the 2021 season but missed the final four games after suffering a knee injury against Rutgers. The former Clemson transfer ran for over 100 yards in four contests and was on place to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards prior to the injury.
In the end, Mellusi finished the season with 815 yards and five touchdowns, and he enters the 2022 season hoping to rebound quickly from the knee injury.
Reports around the program are that he is moving well and he is working out with his teammates during summer conditioning. The hope is to still have Mellusi available for the season-opener against Illinois State.
In terms of the Big Ten, Allen and Mellusi are joined by the following eight players from around the conference:
- Chase Brown - Illinois
- Shaun Shivers - Indiana
- Blake Corum - Michigan
- Jarek Broussard - Michigan State
- Mo Ibrahim - Minnesota
- Evan Hull - Northwestern
- TreVeyon Henderson - Ohio State
- Keyvone Lee - Penn State
Wisconsin is the only school in the league to have multiple representatives, and Braelon Allen is the conference's top returning running back based on yards from a season ago.
The Doak Walker Award is named after Doak Walker, a former SMU running back from the 1940s.
Related links:
- Fall camp preview: Running back
- 10 players coming back from injury that should help Wisconsin in 2022
- Five seniors who could become full-time starters this season for the Badgers
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