Wisconsin nose guard Olive Sagapolu will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing surgery on his arm on Wednesday, according to Wisconsin's updated injury report.

Sagapolu, a 6-foot-2, 342-pound senior from Pago Pago, American Samoa, suffered the injury in question towards the end of Wisconsin's 31-17 loss to Northwestern two weeks ago. He missed last week's game against Rutgers and was ruled out for the remainder of the season on Thursday.

Sagapolu's season-ending injury spells the end of his career at Wisconsin, which started in 2015 as a true freshman when he played in all 13 of Wisconsin's games as their new man in the middle of their 3-4 defense. Sagapolu played in 44 total games for Wisconsin since the start of the 2015 season - and injuries shortened sophomore year in 2016 as well.

Without Sagapolu the Badgers will rely on another true freshman in Bryson Williams to fill the nose guard position going forward. Williams has played in all nine of Wisconsin's games this year as Sagapolu's backup, and got his first start last week against Rutgers. A 6-foot-2, 301-pound prospect from Lincoln, Neb., Williams enrolled early this year after signing with the Badgers last December, and UW defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said this week that he thinks Williams will be ready to take on a larger role moving forward.

"I've loved the way he's progressed throughout the season, just with understanding the scheme, and then just gaining confidence. Learning what I can and can't do as a player at this level as a true freshman - not that it's always going to be that way. But I think the experience really helped him," Leonhard said of Williams after practice on Wednesday. "We knew we were going to expand his role a little bit as the season progressed, and now he's thrown in to the fire. He's got no option but to play some more snaps for us. I think he's ready. He's a confident kid, and he knows who he is at this point in the season. You're excited to get him on the field and get him reps."

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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.