Happy Hump Day, friends and fans!

On Tuesday, the Cincinnati Bengals acquired free agent running back Samaje Perine on waivers, where he’ll now join his former Oklahoma Sooners teammates Joe Mixon and Rodney Anderson in the backfield.

This is actually a return to Cincy for Perine, who was with the Bengals for the majority of 2019. There he split time between the active roster and the practice squad until he was signed by the Miami Dolphins before the regular season finale. Prior to all of that, OU’s all-time leading rusher spent his first two seasons in the NFL with the Washington Redskins.

As for Mixon, the fourth-year RB has emerged as a valuable playmaker in Cincinnati. In three seasons, the dynamic back has rushed for 2,931 yards and 17 touchdowns while adding 870 receiving yards and four more scores. Meanwhile, Anderson went down with an ACL injury during the preseason of his rookie year but remains part of the Bengals’ plan in the backfield going forward.

The AFC North should be of especially high interest to OU fans this fall. There you’ll see a trio of Oklahoma backs in Cincinnati, a plethora of Sooners in Baltimore, and of course Baker Mayfield in Cleveland.

Now onto today’s Hot Links! Lon Kruger’s crew gets set for a trip to Sin City, Maggie Nichols is the Michael Jordan of college gymnastics, UT adds a grad transfer pass catcher from the Big Ten and more!

OU Links

• OU Insider’s RJ Young recently named his 10 Sooners who could be selected in the 2021 NFL Draft. If redshirt junior C Creed Humphrey declares, there’s a real chance he could become a first-round pick.
• In case you missed it Monday evening, CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported that Oklahoma men’s basketball is set to take on the Washington Huskies in Las Vegas for this year’s Pac-12 Coast-to-Coast Challenge.

• The OU Daily’s Mason Young gathered the thoughts and sentiments from former teammates and coaches of late Sooner great Zac Henderson, who passed away at the age of 64 earlier this month.
• The Athletic’s Jason Kersey recently produced this perspective grounding article on the spectacular Maggie Nichols, who has an argument for being the greatest OU athlete of all-time. In order to enjoy the full piece, you must have a subscription to The Athletic (which I highly recommend).

• Check out OUDNA: Episode 3 where the guys talk about why they chose to come to Oklahoma and the moments they knew their decision was made.

• In case you missed it, Allen Kenney is back with another episode of the Blatant Homerism Podcast. This week he caught up with a couple epidemiologists to discuss the possibilities of having a college football season this fall as well as the chances of coronavirus cases around the nation potentially rising from a second wave. It’s really quality stuff that could help answer a lot of your questions during this unprecedented time.

Around the Sports World

• On Tuesday, former Michigan Wolverines WR Tarik Black announced that he will be playing for Tom Herman and the Texas Longhorns as a graduate transfer in 2020.
• The Dallas Cowboys are reportedly signing former Oakland Raiders and Carolina Panthers CB Daryl Worley to add a veteran presence to their defensive secondary.
• Out of all the rookies from this latest draft class, which five players could make the most immediate impact for their NFL teams? CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso took into account talent, fit and situation to determine his choices.
• TCU Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson is taking advantage of this down time away from his team to work on completing a music album. The man is actually quite skilled with a guitar, and even grew up writing his own songs back in the day.
• Everybody knows Boston Celtics’ legendary Hall of Famer Larry Bird was a wizard on the basketball court, but not everybody knows he was also a stud on the baseball diamond. Read all about the true story of how one of the greatest players in NBA history tried out baseball for a day mostly on a dare.

Follow Crimson & Cream Machine on Twitter!