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.”