Happy Thursday, friends and fans!

In some bittersweet news, Oklahoma Sooners’ Director of Sports Nutrition Tiffany Byrd announced on Wednesday that she would be moving on from her eight-year role as OU Athletics’ head sports dietitian for unspecified reasons.

Byrd began her Sooner career in 2013, when she was hired to revamp the relationship Oklahoma’s student athletes had with food. Her attention to detail and customization was revolutionary at OU, and it paid clear dividends on the field of play.

Before she was optimizing the athletic performance of others, she was a national championship winning gymnast in her own right at Alabama before concluding her studies at Nebraska. As a professional, she honed her craft at Oregon, Alabama, and Baylor before settling in at Oklahoma.

While it’s sad to know she will no longer be with the Sooners going into this new decade, I know she’s going to continue making an impact on the lives and health of young people somewhere. Good luck wherever this journey takes you, Coach Tiff!

Now for today’s Hot Links! Another former player joins the football coaching staff, Mel Kiper Jr. gives Hurts a draft grade, Seton Hall beats Butler at the buzzer and more!

OU Links

• Sooner running backs Trey Sermon and Kennedy Brooks are having a ball learning from their new position coach, DeMarco Murray. If anybody knows what it takes to be great at Oklahoma, it’s certainly this man.

• Former Oklahoma center Erick Wren announced on Wednesday that he has joined the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. OU Insider’s Collin Kennedy broke down his journey from a walk-on to a starter on scholarship, as well as the significance of what this means for the team moving forward.

• The Norman Transcript’s Tyler Palmateer recently wrote about how Step One of Oklahoma’s defensive rebuild is complete. That step being the vastly improved play on the field that now gives the coaches something more concrete to show recruits when pitching the vision of where this group intends to rise.
• On a recent conference call, NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. compared Jalen Hurts to current New Orleans Saints backup QB Taysom Hill. He also gave the former Alabama signal caller an approximate fourth-round grade writes OU Insider’s RJ Young.
• The buzz around a possible reunion between Kyler Murray and CeeDee Lamb is growing. Currently, the Arizona Cardinals hold the No. 8 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and with future Hall of Fame WR Larry Fitzgerald nearing the end of his playing career, selecting Lamb would make a lot of sense for multiple reasons, writes Sooners Wire’s Derek Parker.
• OU (4-1) is off to a scintillating start to the 2020 college baseball season, and have now won four straight games after dropping the opener. On Wednesday, the Sooners run-ruled Texas Southern in eight innings, winning 12-1. Check out these highlights from another big day on the mound and at the plate for Oklahoma.

• The OU men’s golf team is ranked No. 1 in the nation according to Golfweek with five events now in the books. The most recent of which came at the Puerto Rico Classic, where Oklahoma finished second overall thanks in large part to senior Garett Reband, who individually came in first. Boomer!

• Another episode of the Oklahoma Breakdown Podcast is back, and with it are your hosts Jack and Kamiar. This time around, the fellas discussed a little recruiting, the 2020 Spring Game, NBA All-Star Weekend, and even played a fun game of ‘Start, Bench, Cut’. As the usual warning goes, there is some NSFW language used on the pod. Also, make sure you drop that five-star rating so that we can reach more Sooner fans who may be searching for more Crimson & Cream content.

Around the Sports World

• After trailing by as many as 10, the No. 16 Seton Hall Pirates battled back to finish off the No. 21 Butler Bulldogs with this improbable buzzer beater from junior forward Sandro Mamukelashvili, who took advantage of the final .6 seconds on the clock. These kinds of moments get me so excited for March Madness. Incredible scene.

• Ex-Cleveland Browns left tackle Greg Robinson was arrested and booked by the DEA on Wednesday after a Texas Border Patrol agent discovered nearly 157 pounds of marijuana stowed away inside his vehicle.
• Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns has been ruled out indefinitely due to a left wrist injury sustained prior to the All-Star break.
• USC Trojans AD Mike Bohn recently announced that the 2021 non-conference game against FCS team UC-Davis has been canceled in order to be replaced with an FBS program.
• Fans of the late Kobe Bryant have been paying their respects at a cemetery in Corona Del Mar, California, but reportedly there’s been a mix-up. The true burial site of the former Los Angeles Lakers legend has not been disclosed, and these fans are unknowingly visiting a different family’s gravesite.

Stick to Sports!

• Season Five of AMC’s ‘Better Call Saul’ premiers this Sunday, Feb. 23 on AMC, so here’s a quick and hilarious teaser of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) as his fully realized Saul Goodman persona. I’ve never before been requested for jury duty, personally, but at least now I know who to call when the time comes. Thanks, Saul!

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