The Board of Regents approved the move this morning.

Happy Friday, friends and fans!

The Oklahoma Sooners officially accepted a formal invitation to join the SEC following a unanimous decision from OU’s Board of Regents meeting held on Friday. With this development, the Crimson & Cream are set to become a fully-fledged member of the Southeastern Conference by July 1, 2025, although there remains the possibility of making a move as early as the 2022-23 athletic year.

Earlier in the day, the Texas Longhorns also made things official on their end after the UT System Board of Regents unanimously voted to accept the SEC’s formal invite.

So what’s next for Oklahoma and Texas? First, there is still a Big 12 season to be played in football and across all the conference’s sports over the next 11 months. Beyond that, all sides involved will presumably work to expedite the move-out process in an effort to switch all things Sooners and Longhorns over to the SEC. For now, it’s no guarantee that this will happen over the next year, but considering how quickly we’ve reached this point, there’s as good a chance as any we’re looking at the final year of the Big 12 as we know it.

Now onto this week’s Friday edition of Hot Links! AR12 heads to the City of Angels, Spencer Rattler added to yet another watch list, Russ West heads to LA via trade and more!

OU Links

• Among the many points OU President Joseph Harroz addressed on Friday, one of the more intriguing bits was that the Sooners have a desire to continue the Bedlam rivalry with the Oklahoma State Cowboys beyond Oklahoma’s move to the SEC.

• Although he was not drafted, former Oklahoma men’s basketball star Austin Reaves signed a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night. From here, he’ll have a chance to prove himself and earn his way onto the team or another. Good luck, my guy!
• On Friday, redshirt sophomore QB Spencer Rattler was named to the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award Watch List. If he goes on to win the award this season, he’ll join Steve Owens (1969), Billy Sims (1978), Josh Heupel (2000) and Baker Mayfield (2017) as the only Sooners to take home the prestigious hardware.

• Best Online Sportsbooks’ Andrew Scofield recently shared some updated numbers for Oklahoma Football’s upcoming 2021 schedule, including win total predictions and Heisman odds.
• The OU Athletics Department announced a number of major gifts it’s received from several generous donors, including a $750,000 donation toward Patty Gasso’s world class softball program. Thank you, everybody! Boomer!

Around the Sports World

• On draft night, Washington Wizards guard Russell Westbrook was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Montrezl Harrell. In LA, Russ is set to join LeBron James and Anthony Davis for the 2021-22 NBA season.
• In other NBA trade news, the Oklahoma City Thunder have acquired forward Derrick Favors and a future first round pick from the Utah Jazz for a future second round pick.
• In a shocking MLB development on Thursday, the New York Yankees acquired All-Star Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo via trade.
• The United State Women’s National Team is advancing to the Tokyo Olympics semifinals after defeating the Netherlands in thrilling fashion with penalty kicks.
• Former Denver Broncos TE Jake Butt recently announced his retirement from the NFL, citing he no longer experiences the same joy for the game he once had before.

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