Hello, friends and fan! Hot Links are back at it once again on this final day of February, and I’ve got a very full slate of links to catch you all up on, including lots of NFL Combine related content.

Speaking of which, Orlando Brown’s mountainous size is unsurprisingly raising some eyebrows in Indianapolis, even among other massive human beings. There’s no doubt that the effect of being the largest person in a group of large people plays a tremendous part of this draft process. You keep blocking out the sun, Orlando!

Now for today's edition of Hot Links. Trae Young is a semifinalist for the Naismith, Rams head coach Sean McVay put some of Lincoln Riley’s plays in his playbook, Kyler Murray went yard on the diamond once again and more!

OU Links

• Trae Young has been named one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Trophy, given to the nation’s top collegiate basketball player. Congratulations, Trae!

• Something that was lost in that debacle of a game last night was the fact that Trae Young now holds the all-time Big 12 record for most points in a regular season, surpassing guys like Kevin Durant, Buddy Hield, and Michael Beasley. The kid has already done some big things, and should only add to that total with one final game remaining.

• Brady Manek is the Sooners’ other freshman who has made himself known in Norman, but of course not nearly to same degree of a Trae Young. Like the team, Manek plays better basketball at home versus on the road, especially as of late, but Manek himself won’t attribute that to any kind of freshman wall.
• Mark Andrews was interviewed by Sports Illustrated about being Baker Mayfield’s teammate, and the star tight end delivered some fantastic answers. As this scouting process goes along, I’m sure we will continue to hear more of the same from the rest of Baker’s teammates. Excellent stuff.
• Lincoln Riley’s offense has definitely been one of the more innovative and imposing units in all of college football over the past three seasons. Now NFL head coaches have taken notice, including Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay, who has admitted to implementing some Oklahoma plays into his playbook.

• Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller released his 2018 NFL Combine primer and a player he feels has the most to lose this weekend is Baker Mayfield. It comes down to the interview process and how NFL GM’s and coaches mesh with Mayfield off the field.
• NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero has scouting questions for the top QB prospects at the NFL Combine, and reportedly when it came to Baker Mayfield, “several scouts went out of their way to reject Johnny Manziel comparisons, as a player or person.” That should bode well for Mayfield.
• Can Ogbonnia Okoronkwo be the first Oklahoma linebacker taken in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft since Curtis Lofton was taken in the second round in 2008? It’s shocking (but perhaps not surprising) that it’s been that long since a Sooner linebacker was drafted that high, but Ogbo could definitely snap that streak.
• ESPN’s Heather Dinich put together a list of the 12 college football games that could define the 2018 season, and Oklahoma’s regular season finale at West Virginia made the No. 4 spot. Now that it’s been declared one of the biggest impact games of the season, I’m betting it won’t be. It would be interesting, however, considering the Big 12 Championship Game is the very next week.
• Kyler Murray did it again. Check out this bomb he slapped out of the park against Dallas Baptist. Could this be the year of the Kyler for the Oklahoma Sooners?

• Patrick Hayes went from a water boy to a sports marketing game-changer. Once a former Oklahoma athletic trainer, now Hayes runs his own sports marketing agency, Waterhouse Hayes, with clients like the Memphis Grizzlies’ Mike Conley, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Martavis Bryant, and now Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield.

Around the Sports World

• Corey Brewer to the Oklahoma City Thunder? I think that would certainly help alleviate some of the Thunder’s issues, as well as upgrade the length on the floor. Also, Brewer and Billy Donovan reuniting could be positive for both.

• The highs and lows of a sports crowd is perfectly exemplified in this video of North Carolina tying the game against Miami in the final seconds, only to lose on a buzzer-beating heartbreaker on the other end.

• Will the NFL scrap the spot-foul rule when it comes to defensive pass interference calls? The NFL competition committee is discussing the possibilities on that rule change, among others. Personally, I think the spot-foul allows for some way-too-egregious penalties.
• The mascots for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics have been chosen. I don’t know what they are, but they’re kind of cool, I guess.

• The Opening is an elite football camp for some of the nation’s top high school prospects to compete against the best of the best, and this summer the finals will be held in Dallas.

• James Harden was reminded of the locker room incident between the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers, and his response was a good way to throw some shade while not getting bogged down in the drama of the past. No matter which side of it you’re on, this is amusing stuff now.

Stick to Sports!

• HBO is coming out with a TV movie version of Ray Bradbury novel Fahrenheit 451. The fact that this stars two of my favorite actors, Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon, makes it worth the watch. I might need to read the book again since it’s been a while since high school. The film is set to air this Spring.

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