Happy Friday, and May the 4th be with you, friends and fans! I hope it’s been a great week for y’all.

With Baker Mayfield now participating in Browns minicamp, the fact that the Oklahoma legend is now a professional football player is finally starting to sink in — at least to a degree.

Yep, it’s still pretty surreal.

Now onto the day’s Hot Links! Baker Mayfield met the legendary Browns tackle Joe Thomas, CBS Sports puts Lincoln Riley on the Steve Spurrier tier of coaching, 2020 offensive tackle Andrew Raym decommits and more!

OU Links

• If you haven’t seen this video from the The Opening Dallas event, you’ve got to check it out. 2019 five-star commit Theo Wease and 2019 four-star commit Trejan Bridges are already making one heck of a receiving tandem. They have the hands, the moves, and the swagger. The future looks awfully bright for the Oklahoma Sooners with these guys on board. And when you consider who else Oklahoma figures to sign (four-star receiver Arjei Henderson, four-star tight end Austin Stogner, and four-star QB Spencer Rattler), the Sooners’ offense should be as lethal as ever in the coming seasons. Lincoln Riley must sleep with a giddy grin on his face thinking of all the possibilities.

• Class of 2020 offensive tackle Andrew Raym decommitted from Oklahoma on Thursday evening. Raym is ranked as the No. 1 recruit in the state of Oklahoma for the class of 2020, and is the No. 7 tackle nationally, according to 247Composite. With as much time as there is between now and his signing day, there’s still a solid chance Raym and Oklahoma can come together once again. Regardless, we wish Andrew the best of luck with his recruiting process.

• The guys in charge for the Cleveland Browns — from the GM to the VP of player personnel to the head coach — were all drawn to Baker Mayfield for different reasons. His stats and tape were among the best in the draft, his football IQ was one of the highest some of them had ever been around, and his everyday demeanor ultimately won each of them over.
• Baker Mayfield met up with Cleveland great Joe Thomas. Thomas, now retired, held down the blindside for 11 seasons, and didn’t miss a single snap until 2017. Hopefully the Browns can surround Mayfield with more guys like Thomas, but that kind of greatness doesn’t come around often.

• This is pretty cool, despite all that orange Baker Mayfield is wearing. It’s okay, he’s done more than enough for me to overlook such trivialities.

• CBS Sports put a list of coaching tiers together, and after one season as a head coach, Lincoln Riley made the Blue-Blood Champions tier, which is perhaps the second-best coaching tier. Just in case you were wondering, Texas’ Tom Herman didn’t make any tier, and let me tell you, there were a lot of tiers. Admittedly, I laughed.
• Baker Mayfield wants people to know that the offense he played in at Oklahoma is not the stereotypical ‘air-raid’ offense. The Sooners played with a lot of physicality and — at times — a run-first mentality.
• Trent Williams and Lane Johnson are representing Oklahoma well in the league. Williams and Johnson rank first and third, respectively, in allowing the fewest amount of pass-rushing pressure since 2015, per PFF. Boomer!

• Sporting News ranked the top 25 QBs heading into the 2018 season, and Kyler Murray checks in at No. 18. It’s a somewhat fair grade considering that he still has to prove himself, but personally I wouldn’t be surprised to see him higher on this same list if it’s updated at the end of the season.
• Perhaps the quality of Mayfield’s that the Oklahoma football team will miss most is his leadership. Neither Kyler Murray nor Austin Kendall have the same attitude or approach to leading like Baker, but they are still both capable of leading in their own way.
• The key spring takeaway for the Oklahoma Sooners is Kyler Murray and how he’ll fill the void of losing Baker Mayfield, but the chance to go pro in baseball is something to watch out for, says ESPN’s Jake Trotter.
• CeeDee Lamb went through his share of bumps and bruises in his true freshman season and even sustained an injury in the Iowa State game. After adding some bulk while retaining his agility, Lamb should prove to be more durable in 2018.
• After dropping seven of its last nine conference games, the Oklahoma baseball team still finds ways to stay composed. A series against Kansas State begins today, and the Sooners are looking to regain some confidence against the struggling Wildcats.
• Don’t forget, Game 2 of Bedlam is tonight, and this time it’s in Stillwater. The Sooners clinched the Big 12 title after run-ruling the Cowgirls in Game 1.

Around the Sports World

• The dates for the weekly release of the college football playoff rankings have been announced. These are sure to produce some animated discussion across the college football landscape. I’m ready for it, but I also dread it. The hot takes can be, well... too hot.
• The Cleveland Cavaliers not only stole Game 1 on the road against Toronto, they won Game 2 as well. It doesn’t appear the Raptors will be getting the best of LeBron this post-season after all.
• The Boston Celtics were down by 22 points in the second quarter, but the Philadelphia 76ers did just about everything wrong from that point on, allowing the Cs to come back and win the game, and subsequently giving them a 2-0 lead in the series. Looks like the Sixers still have a little Sixers in them.
• David Fizdale has been hired on as the head coach of the New York Knicks. Fizdale was last with the Memphis Grizzlies, where he was fired early in the season.
• It’s a bit of a down year for QB recruits for the class of 2019, which has caused a number of college football programs to scramble, trying to land the best QB they can get.
• If you’ve been wanting a comprehensive list of every NFL team’s undrafted free agent signings, then you need to check this out. I’m sure there will be some hidden gems among this bunch. There always is.
• QUIZ TIME: Kentucky Derby horse or Kentucky Whiskey (probably bourbon) brand?

Stick to Sports!

• The University of Oklahoma is having some fun with ‘May the 4th be with you’. Just imagine Vader’s Death Star in the backdrop of the stadium like this. Okay, maybe don’t imagine that, but still, this looks awesome. And the Yoda quote goes perfectly with finals week on the horizon. Good luck, everybody! I absolutely do not miss that part of college.

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