2014 Football Roster
Roster
Melvin Gordon
- Class:
- Junior
- Position:
- RB
- Hometown:
- Kenosha, Wis.
- High School:
- Bradford
- Height:
- 6-1
- Weight:
- 213
Honors and Awards
2014: Doak Walker Award winner ... Heisman Trophy finalist (runner-up) ... Maxwell Award finalist ... Walter Camp Player of the Year finalist ... Unanimous Consensus First-team All-American ... Grange-Griffin Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year ... Ameche-Dayne Big Ten Running Back of the Year ... First-team All-Big Ten (consensus) ... Walter Camp National Player of the Week (Nov. 17) ... Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 22) ... Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week (Nov. 17) ... Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week (Nov. 24)
2013: Maxwell Award semifinalist ... Doak Walker Award semifinalist ... honorable mention All-America (Sports Illustrated) ... second-team All-Big Ten (consensus) ... Academic All-Big Ten
2012: Academic All-Big Ten
Career: Set the FBS record for career rushing average with 7.79 yards per carry ... total of 4,915 rushing yards ranks No. 3 all-time at Wisconsin and No. 6 on Big Ten career list ... ranks No. 3 at Wisconsin and No. 9 all-time in Big Ten with 49 total touchdowns ... holds school rushing average records for a career (7.79 yards per carry), a season (7.81 ypc, 2013) and a game (19.5, vs. Bowling Green, 9/20/2014) ... fastest player in Wisconsin history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards (104 attempts) ... owns 22 career 100-yard games, including 19 of 140-plus yards and 7 of 200-plus yards
2014 Season: Started alll 14 games at running back ... rushed for 2,587 yards, a Big Ten record and the second-most in FBS history (trailing only Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders - 2,628 in 1988) ... led nation in rushing at 184.8 yards per game, ninth-best in FBS history and most since LaDanian Tomlinson of TCU averaged 196.2 yards per game in 2000 ... became fastest player in FBS history to reach 2,000 yards by doing so on 241st carry of the season ... only the third player in FBS history to rush for at least 2,000 yards and score 30 TDs in a season (Sanders and UCF's Kevin Smith) ... joined Ron Dayne and Montee Ball as Badgers with multiple 1,500-yard seasons ... tied for the NCAA lead with 32 touchdowns, second-best in school and Big Ten history ... set school records for 100- (12) and 200-yard (6) rushing games in a season ... averaged 7.54 yards per rushing attempt, the best mark among any player with at least 210 carries ... led nation with 17 runs of 40-plus yards and 10 runs of 50-plus yards ... also led FBS in runs of 10-plus (60), 20-plus (35) and 30-plus (21) yards ... finished his career winning Outback Bowl MVP honors after rushing for an Outback Bowl-record 258 yards and scoring three TDs in UW's 34-31 OT win over No. 19 Auburn ... broke FBS single-game record with 408 rushing yards in three quarters vs. Nebraska on Nov. 15, scoring four TDs ... tallied 200 rushing yards and career-high 64 receiving yards in win at Iowa on Nov. 22 ... rushed for 151 yards and a TD to clinch Big Ten West Division title vs. Minnesota on Nov. 29 ... also rushed for 205 yards at Purdue on Nov. 8 ... rushed for a then-career-high 259 yards at Northwestern on Oct. 4 ... ran for 253 yards and tied school single-game record with five rushing touchdowns vs. Bowling Green on Sept. 20, helping UW set modern-era Big Ten record with 644 rushing yards and a school record with 756 total yards ... rushed for 205 yards, caught three passes for 44 yards and scored two touchdowns at Purdue on Nov. 8 ... ran for 175 yards and four touchdowns vs. Illinois on Oct. 11, his fourth-consecutive game with at least 175 rushing yards ... scored two touchdowns and registered 187 rushing yards on a career-high 32 rushing attempts vs. South Florida on Sept. 27 ... opened the season with 140 rushing yards and a touchdown vs. LSU on Aug. 30 before missing most of second half with injury
2013 Season: Earned second letter, playing in all 13 games and starting four ... ranked 10th in the country and second in the Big Ten with 1,609 rushing yards, setting a UW sophomore record ... scored 12 rushing TDs ... led the nation and set UW single-season record at 7.8 yards per attempt ... just the sixth player in UW history to rush for more than 1,600 yards in a season ... only player in the country to have three runs of at least 70 yards ... tied for the most runs of at least 60 yards (4) of any FBS player ... rushed for at least 140 yards in 8 of Wisconsin's 13 games in 2013 (matched Boston College's Andre Williams and Washington's Bishop Sankey for most games of 140-plus rushing yards by an FBS player) ... became fastest player in UW history to reach 1,000 yards in a career (104th carry of career) and in a single season (105th carry of 2013) ... rushed 25 times for 146 yards in the Capital One Bowl against South Carolina on Jan. 1... ran for 146 yards and a touchdown vs. Indiana on Nov. 16 ... ran for 142 yards and tied a career high with three touchdowns at Illinois on Oct. 19 .. rushed a career-high 22 times for 172 yards, including a 71-yard TD run, vs. Northwestern on Oct. 12 ... carried 16 times for 147 yards and a career-high three touchdowns vs. Purdue on Sept. 21 ... ran 15 times for 193 yards and two touchdowns, including a career-long 80-yard run for a TD, at Arizona State on Sept. 14 ... rushed nine times for 140 yards and a touchdown vs. Tennessee Tech on Sept. 7 ... carried the ball 13 times for a game-high 144 yards and a then career-long 70-yard touchdown vs. UMass on Aug. 31
2012 Season: Earned first letter, playing in all 14 games with four starts ... rushed 62 times for 621 yards and three touchdowns ... rushing average of 10.0 yards per carry led the country ... had nine carries for 51 yards against Stanford in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 ... ran for a career-high 216 yards on just nine carries and scored a touchdown in the Big Ten Championship Game against Nebraska on Dec. 1 ... recorded one carry for 9 yards and one catch for 57 yards and a touchdown at Penn St on Nov. 24 ... had one carry against Ohio State on Nov. 17 ... recorded eight carries for 96 yards and a touchdown at Indiana on Nov. 10 ... had a 32-yard kickoff return and recorded a tackle against Michigan State on Oct. 27 ... carried the ball 10 times for 20 yards against Minnesota on Oct. 20 ... ran for 80 yards, including an career-best 51-yard run, on seven carries at Purdue on Oct. 14 ... carried the ball five times for 15 yards against Illinois on Oct. 16 ... rushed twice for five yards and caught one pass for eight yards at Nebraska on Sept. 29 ... scored first touchdown of season against UTEP on Sept. 22 ... finished game with 112 yards rushing on eight carries
2011 Season: Appeared in three games before a groin injury sidelined him for the remainder of the season ... scored first touchdown of career and rushed for 32 yards on eight carries against South Dakota on Sept. 24 ... gained 28 yards on five carries against Northern Illinois on Sept. 17 ... rushed for 38 yards on seven carries in Badgers debut against UNLV on Sept. 1
High School: Four-star recruit by Rivals and three-star by ESPN/Scouts Inc. and Scout ... No. 24 running back in the nation according to Rivals, No. 27 according to MaxPreps, No. 38 according to Scout and the No. 39 athlete according to ESPN/Scouts Inc. ... top-ranked player in Wisconsin according to ESPN/Scouts Inc., No. 2 according to Rivals and No. 3 according to Scout ... first-team all-state selection by A.P. and WFCA as a senior, also WFCA's Offensive Player of the Year after rushing for 38 touchdowns and 2,009 yards on 158 carries and catching three touchdowns passes ... Gatorade Player of the Year and conference player of the year ... as a junior, tallied 1,098 yards and 11 scores on 99 carries and had five receiving touchdowns ... honorable mention all-state and all-region by WFCA, first-team all-area by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and first-team all-county by Kenosha News as a junior ... rushed for 1,200 yards and 23 touchdowns as a sophomore ... gained over 500 yards rushing and scored 15 touchdowns as a freshman ... head coach was Jed Kennedy
Personal: Parents are Melvin and Carmen Gordon ... served as teacher's assistant in high school and volunteered serving food at a homeless shelter ... coached youth football ... majoring in life science communication ... served as summer intern at Merrill Lynch prior to start of 2014 season
Game-by-Game Rushing (Att.-Yds., TD)
2011 SEASON: UNLV (7-38); Northern Illinois (5-28); South Dakota (8-32, 1)
2012 SEASON: Utah State (2-18); UTEP (8-112, 1); at Nebraska (2-5); Illinois (5-15); at Purdue ( 7-82); Minnesota (10-28); at Indiana (8-96, 1); Ohio State (1(-1); at Penn St (1-9); vs. Nebraska (9-216, 1); vs. Stanford (9-51)
2013 SEASON: UMass (13-144, 1); Tennessee Tech (9-140, 1); at Arizona State (15-193, 2); Purdue (16-147, 3); at Ohio State (15-74); Northwestern (22-172, 1); at Illinois (17-142, 3); at Iowa (17-62); BYU (19-86); Indiana (13-146, 1); at Minnesota (12-69); Penn State (13-91); vs. South Carolina (25-146)
2014 SEASON: vs. LSU (16-140, 1); Western Illinois (17-38); Bowling Green (13-254, 5); South Florida (32-187, 2); at Northwestern (27-259, 1); Illinois (27-175, 4); Maryland (22-122, 3); at Rutgers (19-128, 2); at Purdue (25-205, 1); Nebraska (25-408, 4); at Iowa (31-200, 2); Minnesota (29-151, 1); vs. Ohio State (26-76, 0); vs. Auburn (34-251, 3)
| Career Game Highs | |
| Rushing Attempts | 34 vs. Auburn, Jan. 1, 2015 |
| Rushing Yards | 408 vs. Nebraska, Nov. 15, 2014 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 5 vs. Bowling Green, Sept. 20, 2014 |
| Long Rush | 88 at Iowa, Nov. 22, 2014 |
| Receptions | 4 (2x) MR at Iowa, Nov. 22, 2014 |
| Receiving Yards | 64 at Iowa, Nov. 22, 2014 |
| Receiving TDs | 1 (4x) MR vs. Minnesota, Nov. 29, 2014) |
| Long Reception | 57 at Penn State, Nov. 24, 2012 |
| Kickoff Returns | 3 vs. Utah State, Sept. 15, 2012 |
