How’s it going, Sooner Nation? The Sooner Choice Awards were held last night, and just about every high-profile Sooner was present. It was a fun atmosphere in celebration of all the amazing coaches and student-athletes that have achieved so much in their time at OU. Among the most notable individuals at the ceremony was Lincoln Riley. When asked what Baker Mayfield’s Heisman statue pose should look like, Riley gave a somewhat surprising answer:

Now it’s obvious that Riley was having a little fun with the question, but it makes me wonder if there’s actually a fraction of a chance the statue immortalizes a moment that will go down as one of the most iconic images in college football history. We shall see. We probably won’t see, but we shall hope.

Now onto today’s Hot Links! Lincoln Riley isn’t giving away all his offensive secrets to NFL teams, Du’Vonta Lampkin reveals why he chose to forgo his remaining eligibility and enter the draft, Paige Lowary was selected with No. 1 overall pick by the National Pro Fastpitch league and more!

OU Links

• The Oklahoma Spring Game was a major success because of how well it went for recruiting. After a wave of commitments over the weekend, including some elite talent, the coaching staff is more than pleased with the outcome.
• “If he were a stock, you’d be buying Lincoln Riley.” That’s a direct quote from Kirk Herbstreit in regards to Lincoln’s offensive ingenuity. Riley’s offenses have been so effective, nearly every NFL team has reached out to him to pick his brain. But like many football coaches, Riley intends to keep the good stuff all for himself.
• Going into the 2018 season, the Sooners figure to be the odds-on favorite to win the Big 12 Conference for a fourth consecutive season. Check out these five things Oklahoma must do in order to make that a reality.
• The NFL Draft is nearly upon us, so here’s our first of many draft profiles. Baker Mayfield is a lock to go in the first round, and he’s going to make some other fan base very happy. I’m sorry, is it dusty in here?
• When Du’Vonta Lampkin announced his decision to declare for the draft, many people thought he should have elected to stay at Oklahoma for at least one more season. In this interview, Lampkin opens up about his reason for why he decided to go pro now.

• Check out some of the other prominent Oklahoma Sooners that made it to the Sooner Choice Awards as they answered some rather silly questions from OU Daily’s Georgia Stoia. It sure looks like it was a great time, and Steele Walker might actually have the best hair in baseball.

• The National Pro Fastpitch league held its draft and Oklahoma pitcher Paige Lowary was selected with the No. 1 overall pick! Paige Parker and Nicole Pendley were also selected. Congratulations, ladies! Boomer!

• Men’s gymnastics coach Mark Williams has brought home nine national titles during his time with Oklahoma, including four straight. He may not have as well known of a name like a Lincoln Riley or a Sherri Coale, but what he’s doing for OU Athletics cannot be overstated and deserves a lot more attention.
• You can expect another formidable non-conference slate this fall when the Oklahoma basketball team hosts Wichita State in Oklahoma City. The Sooners defeated the Shockers last season in Wichita, and will make a return trip north of the Oklahoma/Kansas border in the ‘19-’20 season.

Around the Sports World

• The Commission on College Basketball has come up with recommendations that would ideally tweak the system currently in place. Ever since the FBI probe revealed its findings of the corruption going on under the college basketball table, significant changes have been promised by NCAA president Mark Emmert.
• Could Falcons receiver Julio Jones be on his way out of Atlanta? Jones recently deleted all Falcons related images from his Instagram account, which causes some to speculate on potential unrest between he and the organization.
• Reggie Miller totally slipped and referred to Ricky Rubio as Marco Rubio instead. Lead commentator Kevin Harlan caught him right after the error and cleaned it up, but when I first heard it I thought Miller genuinely may have been talking about Jeff Teague and the Florida senator getting into some sort of dispute during the regular season. Hey, it could happen.

• In other former presidential candidate news, Mitt Romney was seen heckling Russell Westbrook during Game 4 of the Thunder and Jazz’s first round series. That sentence reads like a mad lib, but as you can see, this actually happened.

• If you’re into oddly satisfying visuals like seeing people move in unison, then you absolutely must check out these rugby players rolling in sync. It’s like brutish poetry in motion.

Stick to Sports!

• Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is gearing up for a sequel following the tremendous success the film made at the box office. It now stands as one of Sony Pictures’ all-time biggest hits, accumulating nearly $1 billion dollars worldwide. The sequel is set to release in December of 2019.

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