Oklahoma Sooners Football Hot Links: Lincoln Riley, Baker Mayfield, Brey Walker, and more!

Happy hump day, Sooner fans!

I hope all of you had a safe and fun Fourth of July. Mine was spent in San Francisco, where people were shooting very large fireworks in densely-populated areas. Many of said fireworks were not shooting in the intended direction or exploding at the intended time, so I was forced to keep my head on a swivel throughout the day and night. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I feared for my life, but the adrenaline was definitely pumping at times. However, if you can tolerate loud noises and don’t have small children, I’d definitely recommend July 4 in San Fran.

Without further ado, here are the links:

OU Links

• The OU Daily’s George Stoia wrote a really nice article about Lincoln Riley and his hometown roots. It’s definitely worth a read.
• According to Kevin Falherty of Scout, Oklahoma’s five-star offensive tackle commit, Brey Walker, made quite an impression at The Opening Finals. Sounds like he’s starting to convince the national folks that he’s the real deal.
• Oklahoma associate HC/DT coach Ruffin McNeill told a North Carolina paper that the OU gig will be his last.
• ESPN talks about the biggest summer recruiting news for each top-25 team. It’s hard not to be impressed with what OU has done this summer.
• According to ESPN, OU’s FPI (Football Power Index) has gone down as a result of last month’s coaching change. For those of you who don’t know what the FPI is, it’s a measurement that ESPN made up a few years back to determine a team’s future success. Anyway, OU went from 3rd to 4th in the latest preseason FPI (the first since Stoops stepped down) and now have a 72.3 percent chance of winning the Big 12 (as opposed to 77.5 before the switch). Is this relevant? Relevant enough for ESPN to write an article about it, I guess!

National Links

• Corona, the official beer of people who don’t really like beer, is now an official sponsor of the Texas Longhorns.
• Do the nation’s top two QBs play for rivals? Also, are Baker Mayfield and Mason Rudolph the nation’s top two QBs? An argument can be made for the OU and OSU signal callers, but Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen are no slouches themselves.
• Speaking of QBs, here are some aquatic trick-shot throws.
• The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t land Rudy Gay, but they appear to have found a nice fit at a bargain instead.

“STICK TO SPORTS!”

• There’s a new “smart wallet” that can bust criminals with its camera. It’s awesome and also kinda creepy.
• Rolling Stone discusses the 25 best americana and country albums of 2017 so far. Oklahoma’s John Moreland makes an appearance on the list, as does Jason Isbell (one of the best artists out there today).