Happy Monday, friends and fans! So the MLB Draft begins tonight at 6 p.m. CT, and if you’ve been following the Oklahoma Sooners for more than a minute, you should know why that’s significant.

The buzz around the MLB draft-talk circles is that for the right price, Kyler Murray, the likely successor to Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, could turn the page on his football career AFTER quarterbacking for the Sooners this fall.

The reason this is important is because some organizations will use that to determine whether they want to invest in Murray now without an immediate return or pass on him altogether. If a team drafts Murray in the first round and throws a ton of guaranteed money at him, who knows how that will impact his decision. You’ll just have to tune in tonight (or maybe tomorrow) like the rest of us to see how this all plays out.

The bottom line is that Murray will likely suit up for the football team this fall, but he will also likely take his talents to the MLB after the 2018 season. I think that could be the best route for Murray that would fulfill both his desires and his needs.

Now onto the rest of the Hot Links! Former two-sport Sooner Cody Thomas offers Kyler Murray advice, Paige Lowary addresses an emotional letter to softball, Spencer Rattler had a great weekend at the Elite 11 camp and more!

OU Links

• By all accounts, Kyler Murray wants to play college football, and he wants to be the starting QB for Oklahoma this fall. Still, the decision to turn down millions to play a violent game for free (even though that’s not necessarily all there is to it, as explained in the above MLB write-up) may sound like a head-scratcher for some, but if that’s what Murray wants, it makes all the sense it needs to.
• Whether he’s going pro in his baseball career or staying in college to play football, it should be looked at as a win-win situation for Kyler Murray. It’s worth remembering that one of the primary reasons (if not the No. 1 reason) why Murray transferred to Oklahoma from Texas A&M is because of football.
• Former Sooner QB Cody Thomas was a dual-sport athlete in college, also playing for the baseball team like Kyler Murray is doing now. With a major decision regarding his future looming, Thomas offered some advice to Murray.
• 2019 QB commit Spencer Rattler did quite well at the Elite 11 camp this past weekend, easily well enough to earn an invite to The Opening Finals. We actually have some nice quotes from Rattler after Bud asked some questions on our behalf (as well as some good ones of his own), and we’ll share them later this week.
• It was move-in day yesterday for the signees (non early-enrollees) of the 2018 recruiting class. The memories of being a student-athlete for one of the premier programs in the nation start now for these youngsters with that OUDNA. Boomer!

• In case you missed it, Paige Lowary wrote a heartfelt letter to the sport of softball. Lowary has overcome a lot along her journey, and she chronicles her experience in this incredibly creative way. That was beautiful, Paige, thank you.

• The Oklahoma softball team may have come up short in their quest to win a third straight national championship, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that Paige Parker is one of the program’s best winners, and one of the best competitors the sport has ever seen.
• Class of 2020 four-star cornerback Luke Hill out of Washington D.C. has narrowed his list of schools down to a top 10 and Oklahoma made the cut.

• If you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out Austin’s takes on the over/under win total for each Big 12 team. For the record, I agree with just about every single one of his predictions, especially the one about them Sooners!

Around the Sports World

• If the teams in the 2018 World Cup were college football programs, which schools would they be? Since the United States didn’t make the cut, I guess I should start rooting for Peru???
• How have college football coaching salaries grown over the generations? From glorified volunteers to multi-million dollar contracts, the rise in popularity and revenue generated from the sport has had a direct effect on head coaches’ bank accounts.
• Nick Saban has historically voiced his opinion on rules that he didn’t agree with, or aspects of the college football game that he wasn’t fond of, but he’s also used those rules and aspects to his advantage on several occasions to stay on top of the college football world.
• Kansas Football has been a complete disaster on the field for the past decade, but is there actually some hope for the 2018 Jayhawks? SB Nation’s Bill Connelly explores that possibility.
• The Chicago Bears re-signed veteran tight end Zach Miller to a small contract in order to allow him to continue receiving medical care from the team after suffering a knee-injury last year. Good for you, Chicago.
• Serena Williams was slated to take the court against Maria Sharapova in the French Open on Monday, but a pectoral injury has put the long-awaited match on hold.
• J.R. Smith had one of the most mind-boggling mental lapses at the end of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, so Golden State fans decided to troll him with MVP chants in Game 2. That’s cold.

Stick to Sports!

• Simon Cowell says he hasn’t used his smart phone in over 10 months — literally. The reason he stopped using his device is because he says he felt addicted to it, checking it constantly and not experiencing the world around him. Cowell attributes his happier mood to this decision. Good for you, Simon. ‘Unplugging’ can be a powerful thing, especially in this day and age.

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