Happy Hump Day, friends and fans!

Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim was on the ‘Rich Eisen Show’ recently, and he was asked if Kyler Murray would be the starter from the jump. Even in recent years, many quarterbacks drafted don’t become the starter for their teams right away, and even if they do, there’s at least a façade of a competition. The Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel takes a deeper look into that.

Here’s the original conversation between Keim and Eisen from Monday.

As you heard, Keim answered “yes” without hesitation. It’s not a surprising decision, but it does go against the typical process of events that most other drafted quarterbacks have gone through, as Tramel pointed out.

It’s no secret the Cardinals went all-in on Murray. After trading away their first round QB from last year, there would be no way, barring injury, that the former Heisman Trophy winner wouldn’t trot out onto the field for Arizona’s first offensive snap in Week 1. Personally, I like the announcement of this, because now it won’t have to be a question that is constantly asked between training camp and the season opener.

Now for today’s Hot Links! OU adds another marquee matchup to it’s basketball schedule, several Oklahoma Sooners are headed to the men’s and women’s NCAA Tennis Championships, two former NBA MVP’s play through unsightly injuries and more!

OU Links

• The Oklahoma men’s basketball team is slated to play a neutral site contest against Minnesota in the early portion of the upcoming season’s non-conference schedule. On Nov. 9, in Sioux Falls, S.D., the Sooners will take on the Golden Gophers. Both programs reached the Round of 32 in the most recent NCAA Tournament.

• Shortly after Oklahoma’s Spring Game, four-star cornerback Dontae Manning announced his verbal commitment to OU. Sooner Scoop’s Bob Przybylo writes that while growing up, Manning admittedly did not have a favorite college team, yet still, he eagerly wants to be part of the class that restores the Sooners’ defense back to the dominant days of old.
• Oklahoma men’s and women’s tennis will be well-represented at the NCAA Championships later this month. On the men’s side, there will be Alex Bakshi, Spencer Papa and Stefano Tsorotiotis. For the women’s, there’s Oleksandra Korashvili. Good luck, Sooners!

• Former OU volleyball player Madison Ward (stage name Madison Ryann Ward) is set to perform at this year’s Austin City Limits. If you haven’t listened to her music before, I highly recommend you make the time. I definitely got an Alicia Keys vibe with just a few notes.

Around the Sports World

• Draymond Green strikes again. This time, he scratched both of James Harden’s eyes in the first quarter of Game 2 between the Houston Rockets and Golden State Warriors. ‘The Beard’ momentarily left the game before eventually returning, but after the game admitted that his vision was affected.

• Just before that happened, Steph Curry dislocated the middle finger of his left hand. It looked bad, but team trainers handled it and he played through the rest of the game.

• San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is in line to sign a three-year contract extension that will keep him as the NBA’s highest paid coach. Still, Pop’ will have the opportunity to go out on his own terms on a year-to-year basis.
• Booger McFarland will be joining Joe Tessitore in the booth for the upcoming season of Monday Night Football. Last season, Booger was a sideline analyst while Jason Witten, who has since un-retired, manned the color commentator role alongside Tessitore.
• Post-game interviews aren’t usually the most entertaining things to watch, but these Missouri baseball players have turned it into must-see TV.

Stick to Sports!

• Game of Thrones cinematographer Fabian Wagner explained why ‘The Long Night’ episode looked as dark as it did. As I’m sure you’re aware (even if you don’t watch GOT), many fans of the show complained about not being able to see some of the characters or moments during the epic battle.

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