With players still being able to get an extra year of eligibility due to COVID, Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell admitted it is a bit weird seeing many older players all across college football as running back Chez Mellusi mulls his decision regarding coming back for a sixth season after suffering an injury. Mellusi will not be participating in Senior Day festivities for Wisconsin.

“He just didn't feel like he was gonna be out there,” Luke Fickell said of Chez Mellusi, via Chandler Vessels of on3.com. “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.”

Utah quarterback Cam Rising returning for a seventh year of college football next year is one of the biggest examples of older players returning, and Fickell noted that in his presser.

“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,” Fickell said, via Vessels. “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.”

Instances like Cam Rising might be prevalent in the next couple of years as well.

Wisconsin football wraps up its first season with Fickell as head coach on Saturday against Minnesota.