Wisconsin
Former Ohio State Wide Receiver Jayden Ballard Transferring to Wisconsin
Jayden Ballard will remain in the Big Ten for his final season of college football.
The former Ohio State wide receiver announced Wednesday that he has committed to Wisconsin, where he will play for former Ohio State defensive lineman and assistant coach Luke Fickell.
BREAKING: Ohio State transfer WR Jayden Ballard has Committed to Wisconsin, @on3sports has learned
The 63 200 WR will have 1 year of eligibility remaining
Was ranked as a Top 70 Recruit (No. 10 WR) in 21 per On3https://t.co/JLENYWX4gS pic.twitter.com/yAG7fAkcue
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 18, 2024
In four seasons with the Buckeyes, Ballard made 35 appearances and collected 11 catches for 177 yards and one touchdown. He also made an impact on special teams, returning 11 punts for 63 yards and three kickoffs for 23 yards.
This season, the Massillon, Ohio, native and No. 55 overall prospect in the 2021 class was buried on the wide receiver depth chart behind Emeka Egbuka, Carnell Tate, Jeremiah Smith and Brandon Inniss.
With five-star freshman Mylan Graham and several talented pass-catchers arriving in the 2025 class, including Quincy Porter, Bodpegn Miller, De’Zie Jones and Phillip Bell, there was no guarantee Ballard would receive playing time in the final year of his collegiate career.
Ballard will look to carve out a role for himself at Wisconsin in 2025. Fickell recently replaced offensive coordinator Phil Longo with former Kansas playcaller Jeff Grimes. He also brought in former Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. to lead the Badgers’ offense.
When “Song Sung Blue” – the biopic about Milwaukee Neil Diamond tribute act Lightning & Thunder – had a premiere at the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee last December, star Hugh Jackman gave Claire Sardina (played in the film by Kate Hudson) an engraved bench honoring Lighting & Thunder to be installed at Wisconsin State Fair Park.
In August, Sardina will get to have a seat on that bench – and sing again on a State Fair stage.
Sardina will perform with tribute act So Good: The Neil Diamond Experience Aug. 9 at the Bank Five Nine Amphitheater, the largest stage at the fair featuring free concerts with admission.
For Sardina, it will be a return to a place central to Lighting & Thunder. The band performed in the Milwaukee area from 1989 until Mike Sardina, aka Lightning, passed away in 2006. The State Fair was one of their favorite places to play, and the couple got married there in 1994.
The couple’s wild story – from a performance at a Pearl Jam Summerfest concert to major health issues – was the subject of the documentary “Song Sung Blue” that inspired the biopic, and earned Hudson an Oscar nomination for portraying Claire Sardina.
Fair officials May 8 revealed the full headliner lineup for the stage, which includes:
- Aug. 6: Sixteen Candles
- Aug. 7 and 8: Here Come The Mummies
- Aug. 10 and 11: Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone
- Aug. 12: Hairbangers Ball
- Aug. 13: Too Hype Crew
- Aug. 14: The Gufs
- Aug. 15: Let’s Sing Taylor – An Unofficial Live Tribute Show
- Aug. 16: Pat McCurdy
All Bank Five Nine Amphitheater concerts are included with fair admission.
The lineup is also nearly complete for the Bank Five Nine Main Stage, with just a show on Aug. 11 to be announced.
Tickets are on sale for these shows at wistatefair.com and include same-day fair admission:
- Aug. 6: Hairball
- Aug. 7: Nelly
- Aug. 8: Bailey Zimmerman with Chandler Walters
- Aug. 9: Wynonna Judd and Melissa Etheridge
- Aug. 10: For King + Country with Rachel Lampa
- Aug. 12: John Mulaney
- Aug. 13: The All-American Rejects with Joyce Manor
- Aug. 14: Lindsey Stirling with PVRIS
- Aug. 15: AJR with Em Beihold
- Aug. 16: The Beach Boys
WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW/GRAY NEWS) – A ransomware group has claimed to have breached the learning management system Canvas, possibly exposing the personal information of students, teachers and staff across the country.
According to a statement from the Universities of Wisconsin website, they were notified of a nationwide security breach experienced by Instructure, the provider of Canvas. Universities of Wisconsin schools use the cloud-based management system.
UW-Stevens Point tells NewsChannel 7 they have not confirmed UWSP was involved in the breach, but did send communication that Canvas was down and students should not perform any asked actions if prompted, as it may not be legitimate while Canvas is down.
Instructure, the parent company of Canvas, posted on May 1 about a cybersecurity incident that had been reported and was under investigation.
The next day, Chief Information Security Officer Steve Proud wrote that the information involved in the attack included names, student ID numbers, messages between users and email addresses.
“At this time, we have found no evidence that passwords, dates of birth, government identifiers, or financial information were involved. If that changes, we will notify any impacted institutions,” he wrote.
The Wausau School District sent a letter to parents Wednesday regarding the cybersecurity incident. They said there is no evidence that passwords, single-sign-on credentials, financial information or social security numbers were impacted. They stressed that type of information is not stored in Canvas.
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(WLUK) — The Wisconsin-Notre Dame game at Lambeau Field will be under the lights.
Kickoff will be at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 6.
The matchup, originally scheduled for Oct. 3, 2020, was rescheduled for 2026 after the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the 2020 football season.
The Badgers took on the Fighting Irish at Soldier Field in Chicago in 2021 as part of the Shamrock Series, the neutral-site non-conference series between the two programs. Notre Dame claimed the first game of the series 41-13.
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Wisconsin last played at Lambeau Field in 2016 and scored a 16-14 win over No. 5 LSU.
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