Day Two of the XFL Draft kicked off on Wednesday morning, and more former Sooners landed roster spots. CB Demontre Hurst is teaming up with LB Emmanuel Beal on the the Tampa Bay Vipers, while my personal favorite former OU star WR Ryan Broyles is joining Bob Stoops and the Dallas Renegades.

Broyles, a two-time All-American at OU, will reunite with former QB Landry Jones while also teaming up with former Sooners Dimitri Flowers, Jeff Badet and Frank Alexander. After finishing his career at OU, the Norman native was selected in the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, where he played for three seasons. Off the field, Broyles gained notoriety for living on a budget of $60,000/yr during his NFL career and is currently a partner in The Porch on Campus Corner.

If you don’t think I’ll be dedicating time to watching Landry Jones and this dude torch defenses IN A HAL MUMME OFFENSE, you’re dead wrong.

OU Links

• The Oklahoma Sooners plan to don the ‘Rough Rider’ alternate uniforms for the first time this season on Saturday against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, these threads have shown up a number of times versus WVU, and the results have been overwhelmingly positive.

• Earlier this week, Sooner Tracker broke down Oklahoma’s history of wearing the alternates. Since their debut in 2014, the Sooners are 9-2 all-time while wearing the ‘Rough Rider’ unis, and a perfect 4-0 against West Virginia. I’m still holding out hope that we’ll see a total reimagining of some alternate uniforms in the near future, but for now it’s a solid change of pace that isn’t completely awful to look at

• Four Sooners were recognized by Pro Football Focus’ Mid-Season All-Americans lists. Junior WR CeeDee Lamb and redshirt senior DT Neville Gallimore made the First-Team, while senior QB Jalen Hurts made Second-Team and redshirt sophomore C Creed Humphrey was an honorable mention.
• Speaking of Lamb and Hurts, ESPN updated its weekly Heisman Watch, and while the Oklahoma QB dropped from his perch atop the survey to No. 3, the Sooners’ superstar receiver bumped Texas’ Sam Ehlinger off the list to check in at No. 6. Perhaps OU is headed for a similar Heisman race ala 2016 with Baker Mayfield and Dede Westbrook.
• The Norman Transcript’s Tyler Palmateer notes how encouraged OU is with its defense through the first half of the regular season, but also how important it is for the revamped group to sustain its high level of play moving forward.
• Speaking of the Oklahoma defense, not only are the Sooners showing signs of major improvement on that side of the ball, the rest of the Big 12 has displayed their own flashes of great defensive play. OU Insider’s RJ Young has more.
• The Tulsa World’s Eric Bailey released his grades for Oklahoma’s mid-season report card, and for the No. 5 team in the nation that’s still undefeated, you can expect a lot of areas to look mighty fine.
• West Virginia may be turning to an untested redshirt freshman dual-threat QB if former Sooner Austin Kendall is unable to play after suffering a chest muscle injury last time out.
• Former Sooner OT Trent Williams has wanted out of Washington for quite some time, and now there’s smoke surrounding the possibility that the star tackle could wind up with Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns. Big, if true.
• Kyler Murray was named the NFC Offensive Player of the Week after leading his Arizona Cardinals to victory over the Atlanta Hawks. His numbers over the last couple of weeks in particular have been incredible, and he’s still only scratching the surface on his potential.

• Don’t forget to check out the latest episode of the Oklahoma Breakdown Podcast with Jack and Kamiar. The guys discuss the Sooners’ 34-27 win over Texas in Dallas, and preview the upcoming West Virginia matchup with The Smoking Musket’s Bart Keeler. As usual, be aware that there is some NSFW language used on the pod.

Around the Sports World

• The Washington Nationals are headed to the 2019 World Series after sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.

• Game Four of the ALCS has been postponed by a day due to rain and will now take place on Thursday night. The Houston Astros currently lead the New York Yankees 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
• Former Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon has agreed to become the next Los Angeles Angels manager on a three-year deal.
• A University of Alabama freshman has been arrested on account of allegedly reporting a false bomb threat at LSU’s Tiger Stadium over the weekend. I know in the SEC it just means more, but come on, dude. This is way, way over the line.
• Texas Tech AD Kirby Hocutt has been issued a $25K fine for his comments on a bad call during the Red Raiders’ OT loss to Baylor last Saturday. Earlier this week the Big 12 publicly recognized the error.

Stick to Sports!

• It might be a bit pricey, but can you really put a price on a time machine? That’s basically the effect the Analogue Pocket will provide gamers. The new-age handheld can play all of your Game Boy, GB Color, and GB Advance games out of the box. If you want to up your throwback experience, there are also adapters in line to expand your gaming arsenal. Yes, please.

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