Gordon had 2,336 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns in 2014, averaging 7.56 yards per carry. Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Heisman Trophy finalist Melvin Gordon will play only one more game at Wisconsin before heading to the NFL.
Gordon told “The Dan Patrick Show” he would declare for the draft following the Outback Bowl, where he could set the single-season rushing record with 293 yards against Auburn.
If that total sounds unattainable, consider Gordon rushed for 408 yards against Nebraska last month.
Gordon had 2,336 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns in 2014, averaging 7.56 yards per carry.
“We’re not allowed to talk to the scouts, so I don’t know anything as far as what they think,” Gordon said Wednesday.
NFLDraftScout.com ranks Gordon as a first-round pick, ahead of Georgia junior Todd Gurley, who was lost for the season — and won’t be healthy until July — with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Gordon had only 82 carries before 206 rushing attempts in 2013, and his decision stands in contrast to former Wisconsin tailback Montee Ball. Ball rushed for 1,923 yards as a junior and opted to return for his senior season. He was a second-round pick of the Denver Broncos in 2013, but teams were wary of his college workload — 983 touches in four seasons.
Gordon, compared by some evaluators to Kansas City Chiefs Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles, had 26 carries for 76 yards in the Big Ten championship game last week.
