Player Dossier

2011-2014

Wisconsin

Melvin Gordon

RB • 6'1" • Kenosha, WI, USA

Workhorse runnerBig-play efficiency

Melvin Gordon leans workhorse runner traits and 69.6 efficiency.

Usage / Role

100%

Featured offensive role

lowfeatured

Impact Production

100

Top-tier box-score impact for a back

lowelite

Reliability

100

Regular contributor with several takeover games

lowhigh

Star Power

98

Blue-chip, NFL-level ceiling

limitedstar

Career Arc

Value trend by season

Best season by Season Value: 2014 Postseason · Wisconsin

11121213131414

Snapshot

Career Teams
1
Unique Seasons
4
Program Path
Wisconsin
Peak Game
Peak game by takeover score: Nebraska

Player Story

Melvin Gordon built his college career from 2011 through 2014 as a running back from Kenosha, WI wearing No. 25, spending time with Wisconsin. The clearest part of Melvin Gordon's career was his backfield work: 4,915...

Read the story
4★

Recruit Profile

Class 2011 · Rating 0.9013

Bradford · Kenosha, WI

Committed To
Wisconsin
Commit Date
Jan 1, 2011

NFL Draft

Draft Year
2015
Selection
Round 1 · Pick 15
Overall
No. 15
NFL Team
Los Angeles Chargers

Melvin Gordon, RB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2014 Postseason · Wisconsin. Melvin Gordon leans workhorse runner traits and 69.6 efficiency.

Stat Footprint

Career production snapshot

Scrimmage yards
5,143
Rushing yards
4,915
Receiving yards
228
Touchdowns
49
Melvin Gordon Wisconsin Highlights video thumbnail

Featured Highlight

Watch Melvin Gordon on film

Melvin Gordon Wisconsin Highlights

2014 · Wisconsin · Player Highlight

Melvin Gordon college highlights at Wisconsin.

Season
2014
Type
Player highlight

Quick Answers

Melvin Gordon quick answers

Latest team and position
Wisconsin · RB
Career Scrimmage Yards
5,143
Tracked sample
4 unique seasons · 7 entries · 43 games
Best season
2014 Postseason · Wisconsin
Top game
Nebraska
Recruit profile
4-star · Bradford · Wisconsin
High school pipeline
Bradford · 9 FBS recruits · 2 drafted players
NFL Draft
2015 · Round 1 · Pick 15 · Los Angeles Chargers
Latest roster
No. 25 · Class 2014
2014 Scrimmage yards rank
2,740 scrimmage yards · RB 1st (top 1%) · Big Ten 1st (top 1%) · National 1st (top 1%)

Season Ledger

Crawlable season-by-season stats

SeasonTeamGamesScrimmageRush YdsRec YdsTDOverall
2011 Regular SeasonWisconsin398980146
2012 PostseasonWisconsin1351510036
2012 Regular SeasonWisconsin1363557065436
2013 PostseasonWisconsin131481435072.2
2013 Regular SeasonWisconsin131,4711,46651272.2
2014 PostseasonWisconsin142532512384.3
2014 Regular SeasonWisconsin142,4872,3361512984.3

Related Context

Melvin Gordon played RB for Wisconsin. Across 4 tracked seasons, Melvin Gordon recorded 4,915 rushing yards, 228 receiving yards, and 49 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2014 with Wisconsin.

Player insights

Lead takeaway

Best season by value score: 2014 Postseason

Wisconsin paired 2,740 primary output with 69.6 efficiency.

Supporting note

2014 Postseason role shape

backfield-heavy usage with 69.6 efficiency.

Supporting note

Career value stayed steady

2014 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.

Supporting note

Peak game by takeover score: Nebraska

Win driven by a workhorse rushing load. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.

Analysis workspace

Season Workbench

Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.

Season Explorer

Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.

2014 Postseason · Wisconsin

Games

14

Scrimmage Yards / G

195.7

Efficiency

69.6

Usage

45.1

Consistency

67.6

Best Game by takeover score

Nebraska

Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.

Active game

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Game-by-Game Trend

Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.

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Chronological game order.

Game by game trend chart. Auburn: 253. LSU: 140. Western Illinois: 60. Bowling Green: 258. South Florida: 181. Northwestern: 259. Illinois: 175. Maryland: 134. Rutgers: 128. Purdue: 249. Nebraska: 408. Iowa: 264. Minnesota: 155. Ohio State: 76

Volume vs Efficiency

Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.

Low volumeHigh quality

High volumeHigh quality

Low volumeLower quality

High volumeLower quality

Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.

Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Auburn: 36 by 75.4. LSU: 16 by 86.5. Western Illinois: 21 by 25.9. Bowling Green: 14 by 100. South Florida: 32 by 58.9. Northwestern: 27 by 90. Illinois: 28 by 66.6. Maryland: 24 by 57.9. Rutgers: 19 by 70.2. Purdue: 28 by 87.1. Nebraska: 25 by 100. Iowa: 35 by 71.8. Minnesota: 31 by 53.4. Ohio State: 26 by 30.4

Split Comparison

Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.

Wins205.9 · Games = 11 · +47.6 vs Losses
Losses158.3 · Games = 3 · -47.6 vs Wins

Game Log

Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.

14 games

Featured metric

Scrimmage Yards

Top game by takeover score

Nebraska

Best efficiency game

100 vs Nebraska

Result
Thu 1/1vs Auburn100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsW 34-31342517.403227.0
Sun 12/7@ Ohio StateL 0-5926762.9002.9
Sat 11/29vs Minnesota100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsW 34-24291515.201245
Sat 11/22@ Iowa100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsW 26-24312006.5024647.5
Sat 11/15vs Nebraska100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsW 59-242540816.30416.3
Sat 11/8@ Purdue100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsW 34-16252058.2013448.9
Sat 11/1@ Rutgers100 rush yards · 2+ TDW 37-0191286.7026.7
Sat 10/25vs Maryland100 rush yards · 2+ TDW 52-7221225.5032125.6
Sat 10/11vs Illinois100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsW 38-28271756.504106.3
Sat 10/4@ Northwestern100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsL 14-20272599.6019.6
Sat 9/27vs South Florida100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsW 27-10321815.7025.7
Sat 9/20vs Bowling Green100 rush yards · 150 scrimmage yardsW 68-171325319.5051518.4
Sat 9/6vs Western IllinoisW 37-317382.2004222.9
Sun 8/31@ LSU100 rush yardsL 24-28161408.8018.8

Player Story

Melvin Gordon story

Melvin Gordon built his college career from 2011 through 2014 as a running back from Kenosha, WI wearing No. 25, spending time with Wisconsin. The clearest part of Melvin Gordon's career was his backfield work: 4,915 rushing yards, 631 carries, 45 rushing touchdowns, and 228 receiving yards across 43 career games in the available record. His largest box-score season came in 2014 with Wisconsin. Those numbers show where he fit, how often the ball or action found him, and how his role developed over time.

The value of the career arc is that it connects production to role, not just a name on a roster. His career also includes 228 receiving yards and 174 return yards, giving the story more than a single-category snapshot. With 43 career games in the available record, his career has enough shape to show both opportunity and production across Wisconsin.

The arc is straightforward: Melvin Gordon moved through the depth chart, found a larger role, and turned that opportunity into production that can be understood through standard football numbers.

Career Arc

Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.

  1. 1

    Wisconsin

    2011-2014

    Opening stop

Season Value Progression

2011201220122013201320142014
SeasonTeamPrimaryEfficiencyUsageDelta
2011 Regular SeasonWisconsin9852.211.7
2012 PostseasonWisconsin68666.48.6588
2012 Regular SeasonWisconsin68666.48.60
2013 PostseasonWisconsin1,61975.127.4933
2013 Regular SeasonWisconsin1,61975.127.40
2014 PostseasonWisconsin2,74069.645.11,121
2014 Regular SeasonWisconsin2,74069.645.10

Signature Performances

Top Games

#1 Featured game

vs Nebraska

Week 12 · W 59-24 · Conference game

Win driven by a workhorse rushing load.

408

Scrimmage Yards

100 takeover

408 scrimmage yards and 43.9 usage.

#2

@ Arizona State

Week 3 · L 30-32

193

Scrimmage Yards

97.7 takeover

Loss with 193 yards from scrimmage and efficient touch value.

193 scrimmage yards and 32.6 usage.

#3

vs Northwestern

Week 7 · W 35-6 · Conference game

177

Scrimmage Yards

90.2 takeover

Win driven by a workhorse rushing load.

177 scrimmage yards and 34.3 usage.

#4

@ Northwestern

Week 6 · L 14-20 · Conference game

259

Scrimmage Yards

84.5 takeover

Loss driven by a workhorse rushing load.

259 scrimmage yards and 55.1 usage.

#5

@ Purdue

Week 11 · W 34-16 · Conference game

249

Scrimmage Yards

82.7 takeover

Win driven by a workhorse rushing load.

249 scrimmage yards and 45.2 usage.

Top Seasons

#1 Season by Season Value

2014 Postseason · Wisconsin

2,740 primary output · 69.6 efficiency · 45.1 usage

84.3

#2

2014 Regular Season · Wisconsin

84.3

2,740 primary · 69.6 efficiency · 45.1 usage

#3

2013 Postseason · Wisconsin

72.2

1,619 primary · 75.1 efficiency · 27.4 usage

Milestones

22

100+ rush yards

12

150+ scrimmage yards

13

2+ TD games