Wisconsin RB Clement facing hernia surgery, out 4 to 6 weeks

But the running back alluded to the fact that the decision on whether to sit out the remainder of 2015 will depend on what the Badgers do in his absence.

“Corey has been dealing with some issues since before the Alabama game”, UW coach Paul Chryst said in a statement.

Asked if he had regrets whether he gave up the medical staff an accurate account of his injury, Clemente said, “Man if I had just said something earlier, I would have had more time and opportunity to come back even earlier… So after consultation with our medical staff, Corey has chose to have surgery for the sports hernia”.

“There was so much hype that comes with the game”, Clement said. After this weekend’s game against Hawaii, Big Ten play opens with games against Iowa and Nebraska before an easy stretch of conference games against Purdue, Illinois, Rutgers and Maryland. If he can come back and provide an extra spark for a team competing for a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, it might be worth it to forget the redshirt. “That’s when I knew something was up”. He received 38 snaps against Miami (Ohio) in the second week of the season and started in the last game, as the redshirt freshman is taking snaps away from starter Walker Williams, who has been hampered by an ankle injury. Against Troy, the 6’1, 220-pound Deal rushed for 84 yards on 16 carries in an overall better effort by a Wisconsin running game gaining 199 yards against the Trojans.

“I think Micah, it was fun to see him play, and I thought he kind of turned it loose at times”, Chryst said. Dare Ogunbowale is the team’s leading rusher at 65.3 yards per game, and the Badgers are on pace to finish the year without a 1,000-yard rusher for the first time since 2004.

Sports hernias, which are a tear of a muscle or other soft tissue in the abdominal and groin area, can be hard to diagnose.

Clement has run for 1,496 yards and 16 touchdowns at Wisconsin, where he has averaged 7 yards a carry. Last year, he rushed for 949 yards with nine touchdowns in Gordon’s shadow. The Badgers, meanwhile, can only hope they won’t be saying the same thing at season’s end.