BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — After entering the NCAA transfer portal, Chez Mellusi began in earnest to familiarize himself with schools that might be a potential fit.
Meticulous in his approach, he did his homework to the extent of researching the history of certain programs and watching film on players who had success elsewhere at his position.
After two seasons as a backup in the Clemson tailback rotation — headed by Travis Etienne, the all-time leading rusher in ACC history — Mellusi was searching for a run-friendly system.
"Honestly, it was a long time coming," he said of his decision to leave the Tigers and test the waters. "My freshman year, I didn't play the amount of time that I wanted to only because there was an all-time great (Etienne) ahead of me and I respected it. I learned a lot from him.
"And then, my sophomore year, he decided to come back and there was nothing I could really do about it. He had his spot solidified and Clemson only runs the ball so much. I played a good amount but I thought to myself, 'I have some good film. I want to see where I can go and be a workhorse.'"
He was just that — a workhorse — at Naples (Florida) High School. He had 421 carries and averaged 9.3 yards per rush over 32 games. He was ranked as the No. 7 running back in the country by ESPN.com.
Sorting through two dozen Division I scholarship offers from Power Five schools, including Michigan and Notre Dame, he eventually signed with Clemson, a perennial national title contender.
Once in the portal, though, he attacked recruiting in a different light as a transfer who had two seasons and 21 games (169 snaps) of college football experience at the highest level of competition.
"It was all about business for me," Mellusi said. "I wanted to know the facts. I didn't really want to hear any of that stuff like before where a coach was going to tell you, 'You're going to rush for 3,000 yards here.' I wanted to know about what the offense was and how the depth chart is."
On June 1, Mellusi visited the Madison campus for the first time and later revealed on his Twitter account — "New Beginnings!!! #RBU" — that he was transferring to Wisconsin.
New beginnings!!! #RBU pic.twitter.com/aewL67wgE6
— Chez mellusi (@chez_mellusi) June 2, 2021
A rendering of Mellusi had him modeling No. 29 from the 2019 prep All-American game — where he was teammates with Graham Mertz — and his home and away No. 27 jerseys with the Tigers.
The "RBU" hashtag was more than symbolic. Running Back University. It was one of the selling points for the 19-year-old Mellusi, who has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Two former Badger running backs have won Heisman Trophies (Alan Ameche, Ron Dayne); four have won the Doak Walker Award (Dayne, Montee Ball, Melvin Gordon, Jonathan Taylor - twice).
Ball and Gordon were also Heisman finalists.
"That speaks for itself," Mellusi said. "We run the ball here. There's no shame in it. Coach (Paul) Chryst told me, 'We're going to run the ball, and if it doesn't work, we're going to run the ball again.'
"Wisconsin was the place where I wanted to be. It was only between Wisconsin and Oklahoma. And Oklahoma is another great program and great offense. But they don't run the ball like Wisconsin."
Mellusi has nothing but respect for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, who personally offered him a scholarship in April of 2017 — well in advance of his senior year at Naples High.
Their relationship has not been diminished by the transfer process. "He was happy for me," Mellusi said of his choice. "I told him where I thought about going and he thought this was a great fit."
Mellusi will wear No. 6 with the Badgers.
"Fresh start," he said. "This is the new me."
• • • •
Isaac Townsend, an Oregon transfer, and Tommy Brunner, a Northern Illinois transfer, can relate to what Mellusi was saying about fresh starts. Both defensive linemen will be making one at Wisconsin.
Townsend, 19, and Brunner, 20, should be hungry. Neither has seen game action since their senior year of high school in 2018. Both still have four seasons of college eligibility to prove themselves.
"As the (2020) season was going on, I had to reevaluate some things and kind of make a business decision for myself," said Townsend, who redshirted as a freshman and practiced but didn't get on the field last year with the Ducks. "I knew me going in there (the transfer portal) was a leap of faith.
"But I needed to bet on myself. I want to make the most out of my career. I was nervous at times. But I'm pretty happy and lucky to be here now … the team has done an awesome job of welcoming us (transfers) — just being there for us and making this transition easy."
Many college recruiters were betting on Townsend following his senior year at Ralston Valley High School in Arvada, Colorado, a Denver suburb. Rivals ranked him as the No. 2 prospect in the state.
At Oregon, he was viewed as a "tweener" between a stand-up outside linebacker and a hand-in-the-turf defensive end. He never really found a home while trying to bulk up his rangy, 6-foot-5 frame.
Bearing some similar physical characteristics to ex-UW lineman Isaiahh Loudermilk, Townsend described himself thusly, "I'm tough. I play fast. When people get tired that's when I go harder."
As it turned out, his first taste of Badger football came as a spectator at the 2020 Rose Bowl. He made the trip to Pasadena with the Ducks and watched Justin Herbert rally them to a 28-27 win.
He also watched Loudermilk, a 26-game starter, collect three tackles at defensive end.
"Crazy game," recalled Townsend who had no idea, at that time, that his first game competition as a collegian would come with Wisconsin, not Oregon. His link to the Badgers was Jim Leonhard.
One of Townsend's mentors — a Colorado-based trainer and recruiting advisor with a decade of NFL experience as a scout, coach, administrator — connected him with Leonhard. It was a good match.
"Coach Leonhard is a smart guy," he said. "He'll shoot you straight. He's genuine."
Townsend has found the same to be true of D-line coach Ross Kolodziej.
"Coach K is a great guy and an awesome coach," Townsend said. "I've already learned a lot from him and I'm excited to learn more. I'm just trying to soak everything up from him that I can."
Brunner is trying to do the same thing while making the adjustments from a 4-3 defensive end at Northern Illinois to Wisconsin's 3-4 alignment. He traded jersey No. 28 for No. 76 with the Badgers.
Whereas Townsend is focused on maintaining his weight — currently, he's at 275, 35 more than he carried in high school — the 250-pound Brunner is mainly concerned about getting bigger.
"They want my weight to be 265," said Brunner, who redshirted as an NIU freshman and missed the 2020 season after breaking his foot in November and subsequently having surgery last December.
"I think I can get there (265). Before fall camp? I don't know about that. But during my four years here, I can put that good weight on — possibly even more (than 265). I just want to prove myself and prove to everyone that I belong. And there's no better place than to do it here, either."
At Whitefish Bay High School, a 90-minute drive from the UW campus, Brunner was an undersized outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme. He drew little or no recruiting traffic.
Although his college options were limited, he still believed in himself, and so did one of his prep coaches who convinced Northern Illinois to give him a walk-on invitation.
As far as being mostly snubbed as a prospect out of high school, he reflected, "I'm not sure why. Possibly my size. I was not too worried about it. I needed just one opportunity."
Now he's getting a second at Wisconsin. Brunner, whose younger brother is on the opposite end of the recruiting spectrum, didn't think much about transferring until completing his rehab in March.
"Great school, great football tradition, it just seemed like the best opportunity for me," he said. "Surprisingly, I wasn't a huge Badger fan (growing up). I was a Packers fan."
Despite his proximity, Brunner has never attended a game at Camp Randall. Clearly neither has Mellusi. Nor Townsend, who committed to the Badgers before even setting foot in Wisconsin.
"I bought the car before I decided to take it for a drive, and I'm pretty happy with it," Townsend said. "I've been adjusting to the Big Ten versus Pac-12 and getting adjusted to a new weight program.
"Being around my new teammates, I've been investing in them so I can be a good teammate this fall. I'm just getting to know the guys and just getting used to Madison."
• • • •
It didn't take long for Mellusi to fall in love with Madtown.
"Honestly, it's what kind of drew me here from the get-go, it's just so beautiful," Mellusi said. "You don't get to really experience it until you're here. I didn't know Madison looked like this."
With a nervous chuckle, he added, "I don't know anything about the winters yet."
There were a number of things that sold Mellusi on the Badgers. Not the least of which was new running backs coach Gary Brown, a longtime assistant in that capacity with the Dallas Cowboys.
"Great guy and his body of work speaks for itself," said Mellusi, rattling off the names of Ezekiel Elliott, DeMarco Murray and Tony Pollard; some of the runners that Brown tutored and developed.
"I put a big emphasis on watching film. And I studied a lot of those dudes. And I like Coach Brown's work a lot. He has us doing NFL drills — things that helped the pro guys get better."
During the recruiting process, Mellusi got up to speed with some former UW tailbacks. When asked about Taylor, and what stood out about his style, he blurted out, "Everything."
During his three seasons, Taylor rushed for 6,174 yards and 50 touchdowns. Besides winning the Doak Walker in back-to-back years, he was a top-10 finalist in the Heisman voting three times.
In addressing some of JT's traits, he cited, "His explosiveness, the way he hit holes and his vision. He just kind of took over. That's what this offense does, if you take advantage of it. You take over."
That's what Mellusi hopes to do. Like MG3 did before Taylor.
"Like Montee Ball, Corey Clement and James White did," he said, picking up on the theme. "They took advantage of the system here. It works and I'm excited."
Mellusi, who will make his fresh start in a jersey (No. 6) that Clement once wore, has gone to the movies on Wisconsin's current running back rotation. It was part of his research after getting into the transfer portal.
"Before I came here, I watched video of all the guys," he said. "I think we all complement each other really well. Myself, Jalen (Berger), Isaac (Guerendo), Julius (Davis). All those dudes.
"I think that we're going to have a really good backfield … I've known Graham (Mertz) for a while now and it has made the transition even easier for me."
Speaking of the on-going transition, he said, "It has been really smooth. All the guys embraced me. It's a really good family atmosphere here and they've all done a really good job of taking me in."
Mellusi singled out head coach Paul Chryst for his personal touch.
"When I had a meeting with him, we didn't even speak about football," Mellusi said. "We just talked about life and family. He was getting to know me to see how we fit together."
So far, so good. Although he was overshadowed by quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Etienne — both were first-round draft choices of the Jacksonville Jags — Mellusi had his moments at Clemson.
As a freshman, he had a 57-yard touchdown run at Syracuse. "It was one of those things where I knew what I was capable of," he said. "We were just so deep, we had so many talented backs."
As a sophomore, he kept a drive alive on a fourth-down run in the red zone by running for a critical first down against Notre Dame in a road game the Tigers would lose in double-overtime.
"It was an inside zone and I hurdled a defender," he remembered of the clutch five-yard gain. "When my name is called, I always want to make sure I'm prepared. That's how Coach Swinney is."
Mellusi was not only influenced by Swinney, who has won two national titles and sports a record of 140-33, but by his old roommate Etienne who rushed for nearly 5,000 yards with the Tigers.
"I learned how to work hard," he said. "I saw him turn into an every-down back. My freshman year, he didn't have the best of hands. As a senior, he was the best receiving back in the country."
And this is the new Mellusi with designs on creating his own brand at RBU.
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