Wisconsin

Wisconsin All-American cornerback Ricardo Hallman on waiting for the NFL, shoulder surgery and tough schedule

Published

2 years ago

July 31, 2024

Wisconsin All-American cornerback Ricardo Hallman on waiting for the NFL, shoulder surgery and tough schedule

MADISON − University of Wisconsin cornerback Ricardo Hallman often revisits his disheartening performance against Michigan State in October 2022.

Hallman, then a redshirt freshman, was benched as future Green Bay Packers receiver Jayden Reed lit him and the Badgers up for 117 yards and a touchdown on nine catches in a Spartans double-overtime victory.

The 2023 third-team All-American calls the experience “beneficial.”

“I was timid,” he said. “I was scared of the moment. I was in position to make plays several times, but I didn’t go for the ball. I was comfortable just trying to knock it out instead of trying to go get it.

“As you could see last year, I was a little more aggressive at the point of attack in trying to go get the ball.”

“A little more” aggression from Hallman resulted in seven interceptions, tied with Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts for the most in the country. He also finished second among the Badgers with five pass deflections, trailing Hunter Wohler’s six.

Shoulder injury may have kept Ricardo Hallman in Madison

More impressively, he did it all with a bum left shoulder.

“I remember hurting it initially sophomore year during spring,” he said. “That Indiana game, that was the worst pain I felt in it for a while.”

In Wisconsin’s Nov. 4 loss to Indiana, Hallman aggravated his nagging shoulder injury after making a tackle in the first quarter and colliding with teammate Jordan Turner before halftime.

The Florida native had surgery on his shoulder during the offseason. The injury was one of many reasons Hallman joined Wohler in returning to Madison instead of entering the NFL draft.

“Me and Hunter had a couple conversations about it,” Hallman said about turning pro. “He told me before I told him that he was coming back.

“Me and Hunter both haven’t been as successful as we wanted … I think my best season here was my freshman year. They were 9-4 and I didn’t play at all. So yeah, getting this team back on the right track and getting Wisconsin to the status it rightfully deserves is the most important goal. It’s one of the things I had in mind coming back.

“I wanted to give it one more shot. I knew we had the talent, we had the roster to do it.”

Ricardo Hallman knows what he need to improve to interest the NFL

Hallman also wanted the extra year to improve. Although he never declared for the draft, he received evaluations from NFL scouts.

As the Badgers head 70 miles southwest to Platteville this week for an intense, two-week training camp, Hallman can use that time to work on the holes in his game.

“A lot of (the evaluations) came back with being more aggressive in the run game and tackling,” he said. “I know that was something I struggled with last year and it’s no excuse for that. I know I should’ve been better. Especially as an undersized corner, knowing I have to be more aggressive and be better in tackling situations.”

Wisconsin defensive coordinator Mike Tressel is confident his star corner will add more to his game. He wants the defense to look to its leaders − Hallman, Wohler and linebacker Jake Chaney − for inspiration.

“Ricardo is, without question, a phenomenal leader,” Tressel said. “He’s constantly working. Even when it’s times with no coaches around. You might, on a Saturday, one of your few weekends off, roll through and walk by the indoor and he’s out there doing drills by himself or running drills with the defensive backs.

“It’s big time when your best players are the leaders. We can show stats saying, ‘Hey, he led the NCAA in picks last year, and look what he’s doing. Maybe there’s a correlation.’ You have some testimony there for the other guys.”

Ricardo Hallman, Badgers will be challenged by difficult schedule

Wisconsin will have to adopt Hallman’s work ethic to find success against its stacked schedule. After a couple of tune-up games against Western Michigan and South Dakota, the new-look Alabama Crimson Tide, led by head coach Kalen DeBoer, rolls into Madison on Sept. 14.

The following week, the Badgers travel to Los Angeles to take on USC, one of the new West Coast additions to the Big Ten. They’ll also have to play Penn State and Oregon this season.

“I think it’s really cool,” Hallman said of the rough schedule. “That’s the type of competition you want, bringing guys in like Oregon and USC, the powerhouses that were in the Pac-12. And then just the schedule that we’re playing in general, adding guys like ‘Bama and Penn State, all those teams.

“It’s going to challenge us to up the level at which we play at. It’s going to be a really good opportunity for us to get better and judge ourselves against the people that are highly respected in college football.”

With some added familiarity under Luke Fickell’s second year, Hallman and the Badgers are better prepared for the trials ahead.

“The first year with a new coaching staff is hard to get everybody acclimated,” he said. “You’ve got some guys who aren’t all the way in, all the way invested. But I think now with the team we all have the same goal … We’re just more focused as a team this year.

“I think we’re going to shock a lot of people.”

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin multi-county police chase, 2 people from Illinois arrested

Published

7 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin multi-county police chase, 2 people from Illinois arrested

article

Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office

FOND DU LAC COUNTY, Wis. – Two people from Illinois were arrested following a police chase that started in Fond du Lac County and ended in Winnebago County on Friday, May 8.

Initial traffic stop

What we know:

According to the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office, just after 1 p.m. the sheriff’s office got an alert for a stolen vehicle out of Illinois heading northbound on I-41 from County Road Y.

It was learned that the vehicle was involved in two different police chases in the past week in Illinois, but had eluded officers each time.

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A short time later, a deputy spotted the vehicle on I-41 near Winnebago Street. The deputy continued to follow the suspect vehicle northbound, waiting for more deputies to get into position to attempt a high-risk traffic stop. Once those deputies were in position, a high-risk traffic stop was conducted. The vehicle initially pulled over and stopped, but right after deputies got out of their squad cars and started telling the people to get out of the vehicle, it instead fled northbound on I-41.

Chase into Winnebago County

What we know:

The chase went into Winnebago County, with the vehicle failing to pullover and instead speeding up. As the chase continued, the vehicle continued driving recklessly, passing by other vehicles on the interstate, including passing on the shoulder and weaving between vehicles, all at a high rate of speed.

The vehicle exited I-41 and ran three red lights. The chase continued southbound on State Highway 26, with the vehicle continuing to pass vehicles at a high rate of speed on the two-lane highway.

The vehicle then went off the road and drove through the yard of a home before circling around in the yard, traveling through the ditch, and reentering the highway going northbound. It then went into a field near County Road Z and Clay Road.

As a sergeant with the sheriff’s office was moving in to perform a Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT Maneuver), the suspect vehicle went into reverse and rammed the front of the squad. The vehicle then attempted to leave the field by traveling through a ditch and back up onto the road, where another sheriff’s squad ended the chase by intentionally striking the vehicle and pushing it off the road and back into the ditch.

The vehicle rolled over in the ditch, came to rest upright, but was then disabled and could not move. Two people got out of the vehicle and were taken into custody. The vehicle started on fire and a fire department had to respond to extinguish the fire. Both people from the vehicle were evaluated by medical personnel on scene.

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Facing charges

What we know:

The driver of the vehicle was identified as a 23-year-old man from Des Plaines, Illinois. He was taken to the Fond du Lac County Jail on the following charges:

Fleeing/Eluding an Officer
1st-Degree Reckless Endangering Safety (2 Counts)
Resisting/Obstructing Officer
Delivering Illegal Articles by Inmate (Ecstasy Pills).

The driver’s criminal history in Illinois was flagged as armed and dangerous with previous weapons offenses, dangerous drug offenses, and criminal damage to property.

The passenger of the vehicle was identified as a 23-year-old woman from Franklin Park, Illinois. She was taken to the Fond du Lac County Jail on the following charges:

Fleeing/Eluding—Party to a Crime
1st Degree Reckless Endangering Safety—Party to a Crime
Possession of THC
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Resisting and Obstructing an Officer

The Source: The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office sent FOX6 a press release.

Police ChasesFond du Lac CountyNews

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Wisconsin

Stepmom from hell accused of starving 35-pound teen daughter enters plea — could spend the rest of her life behind bars

Published

20 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Stepmom from hell accused of starving 35-pound teen daughter enters plea — could spend the rest of her life behind bars

The Wisconsin stepmother from hell accused of abusing her 35-pound 14-year-old daughter by depriving her of food and water has entered a no-contest plea in the twisted case.

Melissa Goodman, 52, now faces up to 46 years in prison if she’s handed the maximum sentence for charges of chronic neglect causing great bodily harm, chronic neglect causing emotional damage and false imprisonment.

She’s set to be sentenced on July 1.

Goodman, along with husband Walter Goodman, have been accused of starving her autistic stepdaughter. Outagamie County Jail

Goodman, along with husband Walter Goodman, has been accused of starving her autistic stepdaughter.

Goodman’s daughter Savanna Goodman and her girlfriend Kayla Stemler were also charged over the alleged abuse, People reported.

The family is accused of locking the teen in a bedroom without a mattress, restricting her to only her room for years and depriving her of food and water, according to Wisconsin prosecutors.

The mobile home they lived in became a house of horrors for the teenager, who was mistaken for a 6-year-old when she was found by cops in August 2025 and rushed to the hospital.

Walter Goodman, the victim’s father, called 911 to report that his daughter was lethargic and ill.

Responding officers found her weighing just 35 pounds; she was hospitalized with multi-organ dysfunction, including respiratory failure and pancreatitis.

Melissa Goodman — Walter Goodman, the victim’s father, called 911 to report that his daughter was lethargic and ill. WBAY TV-2 | Green Bay, WI/YouTube

From 2020 until August 2025, the victim, whose name is not disclosed because she is a minor, was allegedly isolated in a trailer on Hattie Lane, in Oneida, Wisconsin.

Extended family members were told she was away on vacation or with other relatives to explain her absence.

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Wisconsin

‘Song Sung Blue’ subject Claire Sardina playing Wisconsin State Fair

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

‘Song Sung Blue’ subject Claire Sardina playing Wisconsin State Fair

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: