Happy Hump Day, friends and fans!

Although senior LB Caleb Kelly is expected to miss most — if not all — of the 2019 season, he’s continuing to be a presence both on the sidelines and behind the scenes with his veteran experience and mind for the game. Now he has his own weekly segment called ‘Caleb’s Clicker’, where he’ll revisit his personal favorite defensive plays made by his fellow Oklahoma Sooners teammates.

Watching and listening to coaches break down film is something I enjoy because it’s interesting to see where their focus is and what stands out to them. It’s even more interesting when it comes from a player because their perspective has been shaped by their coaching and their own experiences on the field with the other guys on the tape.

For the first few seasons of Kelly’s career at OU, it felt as if his talents were being misused. After seeing how Alex Grinch has transformed each unit on the field, we can only imagine how much better this defense could have been with a player like Kelly on the field. Still, no matter how his career wraps up at Oklahoma, Kelly absolutely has a future somewhere in the world of football if he wants it. Whether that’s playing at the next level, or coaching up young and hungry defenders like himself, he’s making all the right moves to find success.

Now let’s dive into today’s Hot Links! Neville Gallimore is becoming a seriously dominant force on the defensive line, OU men’s golf wins a loaded invitational, the Nationals go wild in an epic wild card win and more!

OU Links

• Check out the drip that Oklahoma men’s basketball team will be sporting this season. These Jordan Brand Why Not Zer0.2’s are inspired by Russell Westbrook’s signature line, and the pairs you see here are exclusive to this year’s Sooners.

• According to ESPN’s football power index, or FPI, Kansas only has a 1.9% chance to outright defeat Oklahoma this Saturday. So using those odds, what other things in life are more likely to happen other than a KU win over OU? This list is rather ridiculous, and I’m here for it.
• The Tulsa World’s Eric Bailey broke down Oklahoma’s third down defense even further, citing how much improvement has been made on third-and-long situations. If you haven’t already erased those plays from your memory, you’ll recall how often opponents would convert from some absurd distances. This is a very positive sign moving deeper into Big 12 play.

• One of those stout defenders helping make those numbers a reality is senior DT Neville Gallimore. For all the potential he brought to Oklahoma out of high school, his career seemingly hit a ceiling that he couldn’t find a way to break through. Under Alex Grinch, not only has he broken through that ceiling, he’s still ascending as one of the more feared players on the team. Guerin Emig from the Tulsa World draws a lofty — yet appropriate — comparison between ‘Big Canada’ and the legendary Tommie Harris.
• The OU men’s golf team went wire-to-wire in Oregon to claim the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational championship. It’s a promising start for a program that has steadily become one of the strongest in the nation.

• Speaking of the victorious golf team, sophomore Logan McAllister was once a prized recruiting get for coach Ryan Hybl, but after a challenging start to his collegiate career, he began to lose confidence in his swing and himself. Nearly a year later, he won the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational individual title while leading his team to the championship.

• If you’re looking for a new t-shirt to wear around, why not show solidarity in Jalen Hurts’ effort to avoid rat poison! You can purchase it here!

• Of course, exposure to rat poison is hardly limited to Hurts and the Oklahoma Sooners. Not even podcasters are safe, as our leader Jack Shields discovered this week.

• Speaking of which, catch up on the latest episode of the Oklahoma Breakdown Podcast with Jack and Kamiar. It’s Kansas Week, so the guys preview the Sooners upcoming road trip against the 2-3 Jayhawks. Plus, The Franchise’s Brady Trantham is this week’s special guest to help dish on all the happenings from OU’s win over Texas Tech, as well as some quick OKC Thunder Media Day thoughts. As usual, there is some NSFW language used on the pod.

Around the Sports World

• The final scene from the Washington Nationals’ epic comeback over the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card was exactly why baseball in October is undefeated.

• The first NBA game I ever attended was a Hornets game when the team from New Orleans relocated to Oklahoma City following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now Chris Paul, a member of that 2005-06 squad, is back in OKC representing the Thunder. Sports works in mysterious ways like that sometimes.

• There’s putting your money where your mouth is, and then there’s Jim ‘Mattress Mack’ McIngvale. The furniture store owner in Houston placed a $3.5 million wager on the Houston Astros to win the 2019 World Series, and if that happens, he’ll win a net of $7.7 million. That’s a whole lot of cheddar for a whole lot more cheddar.

• D-III Grinnell College has canceled the remainder of its 2019 season after suffering a slew of injuries. As a result, the team was left with 28 healthy players on its roster, leading to this rather unfortunate decision.

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