Happy Monday, friends and fans!

Longtime followers of the Oklahoma Sooners should recall Rickey Dixon, the 1987 consensus All-American safety and Jim Thorpe Award winner whose two interceptions were pivotal against Nebraska in the “Game of the Century: Part II”. For all that he accomplished during his collegiate career, he is being inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Picking off passes was Dixon’s thing, as his nine INTs in ‘87 and the 17 throughout his career rank first and second in Oklahoma history, respectively. Now he will become the 22nd Sooner player to be forever immortalized in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Since 2013, Dixon has lived with ALS — commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease — but his wife expressed her thoughts on the news of her husband’s Hall of Fame honor:

The 1985 national championship winning team continues to deepen in its greatness over time. On that team were five Hall of Famers: Rickey Dixon, Brian Bosworth, Tony Casillas, Keith Jackson and head coach Barry Switzer. Speaking of Switzer, he and Dixon’s wife/caregiver spoke with The Tulsa World and detailed how Dixon received the big news.

For a comprehensive list of Oklahoma’s Hall of Fame players and coaches, check here.

Now onto this week’s Monday edition of Hot Links! Creed Humphrey is a FWAA Freshman All-American, Alex Grinch is described as a defensive genius, Chicago’s Cody Parkey can’t escape the uprights and more!

OU Links

• After falling at Allen Fieldhouse and grabbing a Bedlam win in Norman, the Sooners stayed put in the AP Poll and are once again No. 23.

• The Football Writers Association of America has put together its Freshmen All-American Team, and Oklahoma’s Creed Humphrey made the starting offensive line. Humphrey didn’t open the season as the starter, but once he was inserted into the lineup, he quickly became a key piece for the Sooners’ offensive success. Congratulations, Creed!
• The Tulsa World’s Eric Bailey put together an exceptional piece after a discussion with Garrett McBroom, a former Washington State defensive lineman under Alex Grinch. McBroom detailed what Grinch is like on and off the field, and describes his former DC as a ‘defensive genius’.
• Lincoln Riley is confident, but his patience for winning it all is being tested. What he’s accomplished in his incredibly young career has not been seen in college football in quite some time, if ever, but the Norman Transcript’s Clay Horning wrote that there are examples in the coaching world he could emulate that didn’t see national championship level results for a long while.
• SB Nation’s Jason Kirk showed his work, and in the nearly 150 years of college football, he’s got Oklahoma with six national championships, the sixth most in all of the sport.
• Four-star offensive guard Enokk Vimahi is making a visit to Oklahoma this weekend before he commits and ultimately signs with his school of choice. The Sooners are up against the likes of USC, Nebraska, Utah and Washington for Vimahi’s National Letter of Intent.

• Trae Young and Dwyane Wade traded jerseys following the Hawks-Heat game. Wade is a future hall of famer, and Young is a budding star in just his rookie season.

• Oklahoma women’s gymnastics is back on top of the gymnastics rankings after the first weekend of competition. Boomer!

Around the Sports World

• As I’m sure you’re aware, Chicago Bears kicker Cody Parkey’s game-winning FG attempt double-clanked last evening (and was later revealed to be tipped). This is pretty hard to watch, just because of his history with missing kicks by hitting the goal post. It’s also hard not to feel bad for him.

• Star Iowa State running back David Montgomery is forgoing his senior year as a Cyclone and entering the 2019 NFL Draft. Even with the loss of this talented RB, Matt Campbell’s offense in 2019 should be rocking and rolling.

• The Minnesota Timberwolves have fired Tom Thibodeau, but strangely the dismissal comes shortly after the T-Wolves stomped the Los Angeles Lakers by 22 points.
• Kemba Walker threw up a last second heave from half court and turned away before the ball came down. Of course, he made it, and he only found out what happened after his teammates told him.

• Kansas big man Udoka Azubuike has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a wrist injury.
• So the national championship game between Alabama and Clemson is tonight, and if you didn’t know, there is a whole heck of a lot more things you can bet on from this game besides the winner or the spread.

Stick to Sports!

• Actor Jim Parsons, most notable for playing Sheldon Cooper in the CBS sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’, opened up about why the popular show is concluding after 12 seasons, and why it’s for the best that this is where the cast and producers wrap things up.

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