Collin Wilder’s final regular season game with Wisconsin ended after just one play when he was ejected for a hit he put on Minnesota wide receiver Chris Autman-Bell. It turns out the hit also ended his career with the Badgers.

The senior safety spoke with reporters Tuesday for the first time since the loss to the Gophers more than two weeks ago and said he stretched some ligaments attached to his spine. It was the doctor’s recommendation he not play until they had a chance to heal, something that won’t take an extremely long time but enough so that he will miss Wisconsin’s Las Vegas Bowl matchup with Arizona State on Dec. 30.

“Everything will heal naturally, but you need these six weeks for this ligament to be able to tighten back up with your spine,” Wilder said. “(The doctors were) like, ‘I would just highly recommend not playing in this game. If you have bigger dreams after this, you need all six weeks.'”

Wilder was thankful that no surgery would be needed and that he’ll be healthy enough next month to start training for the NFL. Still, that didn’t make it easier for him to accept his college playing days were done.

“I came back (to the football facility) from the doctor’s and the guys were still here in the locker room. So I came into the locker room and told them the news. That’s when I got all my tears out and I was able to just kind of reminisce on the season a little bit. It’s just tough for a lot of reasons. I love playing here and playing with these guys means the most to me. And then personally, I just felt like I had the hot hand near the end of the season.”

When Wilder went out of the Minnesota game, junior John Torchio took his spot in the defense and it’s likely he’ll be in that same role for the bowl game. Freshman Hunter Wohler and junior Travian Blaylock could also see time on the back end with senior Scott Nelson.