Luke Fickell on 7th-year seniors: ‘Is this still college football?’

Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell is still getting used to players staying in college for longer than usual. With the COVID year in 2020 granting every player an extra season of eligibility and the NCAA’s rules on injuries, we’ve seen players return for sixth and even seventh seasons.

Fickell has one of those cases on his hands in running back Chez Mellusi, who suffered an injury in the fourth game this season. That has made Mellusi eligible to return for a sixth college season in 2024 if he chooses to do so.

Mellusi will not participate in Senior Day festivities when the Badgers face Minnesota on Saturday. In addressing the decision at his press conference on Tuesday, Fickell acknowledged how strange it has been to see players stay in college for so long.

“He just didn’t feel like he was gonna be out there,” the coach said of Mellusi. “Whatever hangs in the balance for him. There’s a lot of guys that are like that. I’ve had some conversations with some guys this past week and not trying to put the cart before the horse. Just said, ‘let’s make sure you don’t make any decisions before this thing’s all said and done and don’t make emotional decisions.’ He was on the list for a while there.

“This world today, I think we’ve still got a couple more years left of not knowing how old or what guys have left in the tank based on how many years of experience. I just saw Minnesota’s got a seventh year guy and I just saw a Utah quarterback is saying he’s coming back for a seventh year. Is this still college football? I don’t know. I’m not sure it was meant to be six years, seven years. There’s a lot of those things still hanging.”

Utah quarterback Cam Rising recently announced that he would be back for a seventh year after missing all of this season with injury. Minnesota receiver Clay Geary is in his seventh season with the Gophers, originally committing in 2016.

Mellusi has been with the Badgers for the past three seasons after beginning his college career at Clemson in 2019. He started this season off strong with 306 yards and four touchdowns through the first four games before suffering the injury.

The number of players who can do this is limited, though it doesn’t make it seem any less strange. With time, we’ll start to see less and less of these scenarios, but for now, this is the college football world we live in.

Wisconsin and Luke Fickell close out the regular season against Minnesota at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Madison.