Happy Hump Day, friends and fans!

Former Oklahoma Sooners team captain Kenneth Murray has grown up with the goal of not only providing for his family financially, but also taking personal care of his three adopted special-needs siblings. With the 2020 NFL Draft nearing, it’s simply a matter of how early this ultra-talented linebacker will receive that life-changing phone, thus fulfilling the decade-old promise he made to Nyla, Lenny and James.

NFL Draft analyst Chase Goodbread delivers the goods with this inside-look at the man affectionately known as ‘K9’. Around Sooner Nation, many folks are familiar with Murray’s extraordinary acts of heroism, and this piece reaches the root of his upbringing that has shaped him into the rare prospect he’s become today. I highly recommend giving this a read.

Now on to today’s Hot Links! Lincoln Riley uses the virtual field to maintain his QBs’ growth, former Sooners currently in the league have raked in over half a billion in combined earnings, football in the ATL has a brand new look and more!

OU Links

• In case you forgot, Lincoln Riley’s offense is the standard that all other major college football offenses strive to match. Since 2015, no other team has really come all that close to matching the efficiency of Oklahoma in terms of combined rushing and passing measures. ‘Nuff said.

• Speaking of Riley, although he’s not able to spend time with his quarterbacks on the field for the foreseeable future, he’s been able to work in quite a bit of online film study with the likes of Spencer Rattler and Tanner Mordecai, writes The Norman Transcript’s Tyler Palmateer.
• When it comes to sending players to the NFL, Oklahoma does it better than most. Not only that, but many of those former Sooners have sustained their pro status in the league. In total, the career-earnings for the currently active former OU players is $613,982,471. I won’t bother doing the math of what that amounts to per athlete, but trust me when I tell you that's a whole lot of cheddar. Boomer!

• Sooners Wire’s Kegan Reneau relays Lincoln Riley and OU AD Joe Castiglione’s latest thoughts on the coronavirus pandemic stoppages, as well as a message they have for Oklahoma fans as the sports world continues to navigate through this unprecedented time.
• The Sports Fan Journal’s Ron Hampston named Baker Mayfield the best college football player to ever wear No. 6. Among the honorably mentioned were gridiron greats like Jerome Bettis and Santana Moss.

Around the Sports World

• Earlier this week, Oklahoma State Cowboys coach Mike Gundy might have been caught wishfully thinking aloud (and adding in a number of absurd statements in the process) during a teleconference when he mentioned returning to work as early as May 1. Yeah, unfortunately that’s not going to happen with the Big 12 suspending all team activities through at least the next 50-plus days.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady recently interviewed with Howard Stern where he discussed his time in New England and whether or not he’d have the same amount of success as a player without Bill Belichick as his head coach.

• Kevin Garnett might have become an NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, but well before that he became a face of the association with the Minnesota Timberwolves. However, he recently opened up to The Athletic’s Shams Charania to divulge why he does not want his jersey to be retired in Minneapolis.
• A 96-year-old baseball bat used by New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig in 1924 recently sold at an auction for just over $1 million. Wow, that’s a mighty special sports souvenir.
• On Wednesday, the Atlanta Falcons revealed some new threads for the first time in 17 years. In my opinion, these look slightly better than the Rams’ recently-unveiled look (the bar is super low), but I can’t help but get some major Texas Tech vibes the longer I stare at them.

Stick to Sports!

• On Tuesday evening, the world lost one of its most clever songwriters when John Prine passed away due to COVID-19 complications. Here are 25 of his best songs.

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