Wisconsin sophomore tailback Melvin Gordon is seeking input from the NFL Draft Advisory Board, he told reporters after the Badgers' practice Tuesday.
Gordon (6-foot-1, 207 pounds), a third-year sophomore who leads the team in rushing, has rushed for 1,466 yards and 12 touchdowns this season. He and the Badgers play South Carolina in the Jan. 1 Capital One Bowl, and Gordon said he will make his decision after the bowl game.
"I encouraged him to put in his papers," Badgers coach Gary Andersen told reporters. "Why leave it all clouded out there? It's what he wants to do and I'm going to respect that and I'm going to support it, and when the decision comes back from the league, we'll sit down and discuss it again."
Andersen also said he has told Gordon he should return for his junior season.
Gordon faded in the second half of the season. He rushed for 100 yards six times in the first seven games of the season, but reached that plateau just one in the final five games. And of his 12 TDs, just one came in the final five games.
Gordon ran for 621 yards as a third-team redshirt freshman in 2012, but 328 of those came in two games (UTEP and Nebraska in the league title game). He had just one game with double-digit carries in 2012; this season, he had 12 carries in every game but one, and he seemed to wear down as the season progressed.
One aspect of his game that's a mystery is his receiving ability; he has three receptions in two seasons and had just one catch this fall. His blocking also is somewhat of an unknown. Gordon told reporters that there are "some things" he needs to work on, "things I know I am good at but really didn't get an opportunity to show."
Gordon told reporters that while his dad has advised him to stay in school, his mother is pushing for him to look into leaving early. He did say that if he was considered a third-round or worse pick -- which seems unlikely, given his explosiveness and big-play ability -- that would lead him to stay in school.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
