Speaking with reporters after practice on Wednesday, Wisconsin junior left tackle Ryan Ramczyk confirmed that he might need to have surgery to correct a nagging hip injury after the season – and that going under the knife might affect his decision of whether to leave school early for the NFL draft.

“I think it obviously would have to be a factor, yeah,” Ramczyk said when asked if surgery and the ensuing recovery period would affect his decision about whether to stay at Wisconsin for his senior season or turn pro.

The initial report said that Ramczyk would need four months to recover from the procedure, which if true would prevent him from working out for NFL teams at the scouting combine and in private workouts. But Ramczyk said it’s “not set in stone” that he will need the surgery, and that he’s healthy enough to play in the Cotton Bowl for the Badgers on Jan. 2.

“I’m healthy enough to play, I’ve been healthy enough to play all season,” Ramczyk said. “It’s kind of just annoying. We’ll see what I’ve got to do after the season.”

If he needs the surgery and still declares for the draft Ramczyk would have to rely on the game tape from his strong junior campaign to boost his draft stock, after he earned All-American and All-Big Ten honors in his first season on the field for the Badgers. Missing the NFL scouting combine and private workouts with teams would deprive him of a chance to demonstrate his athleticism to teams in-person, though.

But other than the injury question it’s business as usual for Ramczyk, who said he’s still gathering information from different sources as he prepares to both make his NFL decision and play in the Cotton Bowl for UW.

“It’s kind of the same as last week,” Ramczyk said. “(I’m) getting the information and taking it day by day. I’m really now just focusing on practicing for the bowl game.”

UW senior running back Corey Clement thought he’d be facing a similar situation to Ramczyk last year, when he hoped to show the NFL what he could do as Wisconsin’s lead running back and potentially turn pro after his junior season.

That didn’t happen – a nagging groin injury and some off-field issues kept him off the field for all but four games last year, where he rushed for just 225 yards and 5 touchdowns.

But while there was talk that Clement could still turn pro after the 2015 season if he didn’t want to risk another injury derailing his senior season, Clement said after practice on Tuesday that he didn’t even submit his name for a draft evaluation last year, and he believes that he helped himself by coming back to Wisconsin for his senior season, where so far he has rushed for 1,304 yards and 14 touchdowns.

“I think I helped it a lot,” Clement said of what his decision to return did for his draft stock. “Right after this game I can put this season behind (me) and focus and make a transition to training for the NFL. I’ve got one more game to ride out with these guys, and as opposed to 2015 I definitely think I made a big gain from then.”

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.