Happy Friday, friends and fans!

Oklahoma Sooners cornerbacks coach Roy Manning is bringing you more of that extra fire to get you through this summer lull known as the college football offseason.

First of all, “Sooner”! Second of all, any brick walls within a five-mile radius of Owen Field better be on high alert because somebody is about to run right through them after watching this video. Manning is known for bringing that never-ending energy, and this is just the latest example of that.

Now onto this week’s Friday edition of Hot Links! Assessing Oklahoma’s projected win total, Kyler Murray facing Baker Mayfield’s rookie record, food in Europe with a uniquely sports flavor and more!

OU Links

• This is going to be so much fun to see this fall when it’s all edited and put into some compilation. CeeDee Lamb is the perfect personification for the Jumpman logo on the football team.

• CBS Sports’ Ben Kercheval gave his over/unders for each Big 12 team in accordance to their projected win totals. Find out if he has Oklahoma winning more or less than 10.5 games this season. Personally, this question is a no-brainer.
• OU Insider’s Joey Helmer offered his top 10 most impactful players for the Sooners’ upcoming season. Jalen Hurts should pretty much be anybody’s top name on the list, but who else carries with them extreme importance for potential on-the-field successes?
• Kyler Murray and Kliff Kingsbury are cooking up what could potentially be one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL as early as this fall, but will the No. 1 overall pick from April’s draft actually break Baker Mayfield’s rookie record for most passing touchdowns? I think he’ll get close, and maybe even very close, but there are a ton of factors that could also prevent him from achieving such a feat.

• Former Oklahoma quarterback and baseball player Cody Thomas plays for the double-A Tulsa Drillers these days (at a very high level, I might add), but he recently caught up with the Tulsa World’s Guerin Emig to reflect on his time on the football team. This was a great read, so I definitely recommend checking it out.
• Former Sooners OT Orlando Brown Jr. had a remarkable rookie season with the Baltimore Ravens in 2018, and he’s setting his goals high going into his second year in the NFL.

Around the Sports World

• Hall of Fame QB and Louisiana Tech legend Terry Bradshaw recently dissed Texas and how they’ve developed QBs, but more interesting than that was how he totally dissed Sam Ehlinger, saying “he ain’t that good.” He didn’t refer to him by name, but he definitely referred to him. I am so here for this offseason content.

• The USWNT plays France at the Women’s World Cup today at 2 p.m. CT with a chance to advance to the semifinals. Beating the host country’s team typically comes with its own challenges, but this USA squad looks to be on a mission for the crown.

• The Los Angeles Lakers have sent three players to the Washington Wizards in order to create max salary room for New Orleans Pelicans All-Star Anthony Davis.
• SB Nation’s Stephanie Yang wrote this insightful piece about a French bakery she recently discovered while covering the USWNT. This place bakes bread that resembles soccer balls, and just like the game itself, the unique food also brings locals and newcomers together.

• The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are playing a special series in London, and here’s a little bit of what’s on the menu. Yeah, I need to add a stamp to my passport, pronto.

• Sesame Street’s very own Cookie Monster was at Wrigley Field to sing his own rendition of ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’, and he did not disappoint.

Stick to Sports!

• Rolling Stone recently caught up with Tom DeLonge, former guitarist and vocalist for Blink-182, for an episode of the editorial’s ‘First Time’ series. If you’re a fan of the 90s/00s era pop-punk ensemble, you have to check out DeLonge’s stories, especially the one about the “naked bouncer”. Heads up, some of the language in the storytelling is NSFW.

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