Melvin Gordon III (born April 13, 1993) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, earning unanimous All-American honors and winning the Doak Walker Award as the top college running back in 2014. Gordon was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the first round of the 2015 NFL draft with the 15th overall pick. He was also a member of the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, and Baltimore Ravens.
Gordon briefly held the NCAA Division I FBS single-game rushing yards record with 408 yards, set playing in three quarters against Nebraska in November 2014, until it was broken the following week. He became the second-leading all-time single-season rusher in FBS history with 2,587 yards, falling 41 yards shy of Barry Sanders record of 2,628 yards set in 1988.
Gordon was born and raised in Kenosha, Wisconsin and briefly attended Grayslake Central High School in Illinois before transferring to Mary D. Bradford High School, where he was a two-sport star for the Red Devils in both football and track. In football, Gordon tallied 1,098 yards and 11 touchdowns on 99 carries, and had five receiving touchdowns, and was an honorable mention All-state and All-region by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) as a junior. He was a first-team All-state selection by the Associated Press and the WFCA as a senior, after rushing for 2,009 yards with 38 touchdowns. Gordon was the Wisconsin Gatorade Football Player of the Year. He played on the same team as cornerback Trae Waynes, who was selected four spots ahead of Gordon in the 2015 NFL draft by the Minnesota Vikings.
As an outstanding track & field athlete, Gordon was one of the state's top performers in the long jump. At the 2011 Racine Invitational event, he ran the 55-meter dash in a PR 6.39 seconds on his way to a first-place finish. Gordon earned a second-place finish in the 100-meter dash at the 2011 SEC Outdoor Conference, recording a career-best time of 10.95 seconds. At the 2011 WIAA Track & Field State Championships, he took silver in the long jump event after posting a career-best leap of 7.20 meters (23 ft 7 in).
Regarded as a four-star recruit by the Rivals.com recruiting service, Gordon was ranked the No. 24 running back in the nation. He was ranked the top player in Wisconsin by ESPN.com. Gordon chose Wisconsin over scholarship offers from Iowa, Louisville, and Michigan. He originally committed to the University of Iowa but decommitted and chose the University of Wisconsin–Madison instead.
Gordon attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he played for the Wisconsin Badgers football team from 2011 through 2014 under head coaches Bret Bielema, Barry Alvarez, and Gary Andersen.
As a freshman in 2011, Gordon played in three games, recording 20 carries for 98 yards and a touchdown. He rushed for his first career collegiate touchdown in the 59–10 victory over South Dakota on September 24. Gordon was given a medical redshirt after suffering a groin injury.
In 2012, Gordon was the third string running back behind Montee Ball and James White. In the Badgers' third game against UTEP, he had eight carries for 112 rushing yards and a touchdown for his first collegiate game going over the century mark. Gordon set a career-high record of 216 yards on nine carries averaging 24 yards per carry in the 2012 Big Ten Football Championship Game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers where the unranked Badgers defeated the #12 Cornhuskers by a score of 70–31. During the 2013 Rose Bowl, he had nine carries for 51 yards against #6 Stanford but ultimately the unranked Badgers lost by a score of 20–14.
Over the course of the 2012 season, Gordon had 62 carries for 621 yards and three touchdowns.
James White and Gordon received a majority of the carries and the backfield and both were productive. To start the season, Gordon had 13 carries for 144 yards and a touchdown against Massachusetts. In the next game against Tennessee Tech, he recorded nine carries for 140 yards and a touchdown for a 15.6 yards per carry average. The following week, the Badgers had their first setback of the season on the road against Arizona State. Gordon had a season high in yardage with 193 yards on 15 carries for two rushing touchdowns. Gordon found the endzone thrice to go along with 147 yards on 16 carries in the following game against Purdue. After a setback to Ohio State in the following game, Gordon and Badgers reeled off a six-game winning streak. To start the winning streak, Gordon had 22 carries for 172 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown against Northwestern. A week later against Illinois, he found the endzone three times for the second time in the 2013 season. In the victory, Gordon tallied 142 rushing yards on 17 carries to go along with the touchdowns. On November 14, Gordon was named one of the 10 semifinalists for the 2013 Doak Walker Award. Two days later, against Indiana, he had 13 carries for 146 yards and a touchdown.
In December 2013, Gordon announced after much speculation that he would be returning to Wisconsin for his junior season. In explaining his decision, Gordon stated that,"I love the University of Wisconsin and feel that there is still a lot of room for growth...academically, another year in school will help me get closer to completing my degree, and on the field I hope to help my team get back the Big Ten championship." With their 9–3 record, the Badgers earned a spot in the Capital One Bowl against South Carolina. In the 34–24 loss, Gordon had 25 carries for 143 yards. In the 2013 season, Gordon recorded 206 carries for 1,609 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Prior to the season, Gordon was widely viewed as a Heisman Trophy contender. He was also on preseason watchlists for the Maxwell Award, Doak Walker Award, and Walter Camp Award. 2014 was the first year where Gordon was Wisconsin's featured running back; in 2012, he was behind both Montee Ball and James White, and in 2013, Gordon was behind James White with Corey Clement as the third string running back after Gordon.
Gordon began the season with 16 carries for 140 yards against #13 LSU on August 30 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. LSU came back from a 24–7 deficit to win the game by a score of 28–24. Wisconsin's head coach, Gary Andersen, was criticized for him only having three carries in the second half and when questioned Anderson stated he "didn't know why Gordon had limited carries". Gordon stated to the media after the game that he wasn't injured. However, two days later Andersen stated that Gordon strained his hip-flexor on the last play in the second quarter of the game against LSU and "we were trying to be smart with him as the rest of the game went on". In the second game of the season against the Western Illinois Leathernecks (FCS), Gordon was held to a season-low 38 rushing yards on 17 carries.
On September 20 against Bowling Green, Gordon rushed for 253 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. Two weeks later, Gordon surpassed his 253-yard game rushing against Bowling Green when he reached 259 yards rushing against Northwestern at Ryan Field in a losing effort. Gordon was named to the CBSSports.com Midseason College Football All-America Team. He was also one of 20 semifinalists for the Maxwell Award.
On November 15, Gordon broke LaDainian Tomlinson's 15-year-old FBS single-game rushing record by two yards, totaling 408 yards against the #16 Nebraska Cornhuskers. He scored four rushing touchdowns on only 25 carries in three quarters of play. The record stood for only a week before Samaje Perine of Oklahoma rushed for 427 yards against Kansas. Reflecting on the short-lived record, Gordon said: "That's disappointing, to have that. But congrats to that guy; that's really not easy to do." In addition, he broke the 339-yard school record, held by Ron Dayne since 1996, and the 377-yard Big Ten Conference record, held by Indiana running back Anthony Thompson since 1989. Gordon garnered multiple Player of the Week awards for his performance against Nebraska. The Walter Camp Football Foundation, Athlon Sports, and CBSSports.com named him National Offensive Player of the Week, and the Big Ten named him the conference Offensive Player of the Week.