Published Aug 14, 2023
After turbulent 2022 season, cornerback Ricardo Hallman ready to 'dominate'
Seamus Rohrer  •  BadgerBlitz
Staff
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@seamus_rohrer

Madison — You’d be hard pressed to find someone on Wisconsin’s defense who has experienced both the blissful highs and agonizing lows of college football more than Ricardo Hallman.

The cornerback began last season as the youngster with a bright future in the Badgers’ secondary. Jim Leonhard’s unit had an abundance of experience in the defensive backfield — then fifth-year senior Alexander Smith, sixth-year seniors Jay Shaw and Cedrick Dort Jr. plus the seventh-year veteran Justin Clark. And yet, there was Hallman, running with the starting cornerbacks.

Part of it was performance. In fall camp, with the season weeks away, Leonhard mentioned Hallman as the most impressive young corner he had.

Part of it was circumstance. Smith, the “leader” of the Badgers’ cornerback room, suffered an injury that would keep him out until the Michigan State game. That left a vacant spot on the outside, a spot Hallman seized and didn’t relinquish.

“I feel like I’m very versatile, I can play the slot or the outside. I feel like I have the feet to do it all,” he told BadgerBlitz.com about two weeks before the 2022 season kicked off. “I’m a ballhawk, I like to be around the ball.”

At the onset of the season, Hallman backed up all of the hype. Through the first three weeks, he started on the outside and allowed just three catches on nine targets, per Pro Football Focus. His first big play was an acrobatic, one-handed interception against New Mexico State you have to watch a few times to wrap your head around.

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Then came Big Ten play, beginning with the high-flying passing attack of Ohio State. Hallman gave up a couple of big completions. Neither were particularly back-breaking, although Leonhard said after the game that some of his guys were “seeing ghosts” on defense. The corner was certainly one of them.

Hallman continued to start until the Badgers played Michigan State. He was credited for allowing three touchdowns that game to the Spartans’ bigger, jump-ball receivers Keon Coleman and Jayden Reed. It was a reality check for the young corner who had such a promising start to the season. He barely saw the field until the bowl game after that performance.

“I think to play the game of football you have to have confidence, but specifically to play the position of defensive back you have to have confidence,” Hallman said. “Confidence is key, especially at this position, you can never lack in confidence because it’s a mental battle, it’s all-out war for four quarters.”

Indeed, cornerbacks must play with unrelenting confidence and a short memory. But after being benched for a healthy Smith following the Michigan State game, Hallman didn’t get a chance to wipe the bitter taste of East Lansing away until the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Las Vegas.

Now, the cornerback is once again primed for a starting role in the Badgers’ defense. After a blistering hot spring camp, capped off by a performance in The Launch in which he picked off three passes, Hallman once again looks like one of the more exciting players on Wisconsin’s defense.

“I just think because I got some games under my belt, I was able to go out there and play,” he said. “So being on the field, being adjusted to the college game and the speed of it, your confidence grows and you realize, ‘I belong here. I deserve to be here, I can do what I do and make plays all year.’’’

As part of a cornerback room that featured Smith, transfer nickelback Jason Maitre and a plethora of younger players, a starting spot on the outside was Hallman’s to lose through offseason practices. Not only did he firmly secure his spot, he staked his claim as the resident ballhawk on the Badgers’ defense. His interceptions came early, often and in bunches.

“We have a saying in the DB room: once you get that first one, they come in boatloads. Once you get that first one out of the way, them jitters go out, you’re like ‘I feel so confident I can fly. I can make any play right now,’” Hallman said. “So I think those practices and having that spring game I was able to have boosted my confidence for sure. And it just let me know that I can dominate, I can do this at a high level all the time.”

Standing at 5-foot-10, Hallman doesn’t possess the prototypical length defensive coaches often seek from outside cornerbacks. His stature is part of the reason he struggled against bigger receivers like the 6-foot-4 Coleman, who now plays for Florida State.

“He knows what his weaknesses are; he’s not gonna grow anymore,” new cornerbacks coach Paul Haynes chuckled. “He is what he is, so he’s gotta make sure he gets himself into position to make a play and not let people play bully ball with him. But he has made a lot of strides.”

Hallman is staring down his second straight year in which he’ll open the season as a starter. But the invaluable lessons he learned from a tumultuous first year playing in the Big Ten have made him a much different cornerback.

“Really just getting comfortable,” he offered when asked what the biggest difference is from this year to last. “Realizing how to adjust, how to practice and how to watch film. I think I took big jumps in those categories and that allowed me to be able to play faster and more physical and just dominate my assignment.”

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