The FBS leader in receiving yards and touchdown catches is a freshman who played defensive back for most of high school and drew one FBS scholarship offer as a receiver. On Friday, from Baltimore and live on CBS Sports HQ, he settled where he will play in 2027.
That lone offer came from Oregon State, late on the opening day of the Early Signing Period, in a text from general manager Eron Hodges to his coach at St. Frances Academy, Messay Hailemariam. Teammates had already signed with Alabama and Auburn that day.
Jesse Legree is staying with the program that sent the text. He re-signed with the Beavers for 2027, ending portal speculation that had started as other programs began planning next year’s rosters.
Through seven games, Legree has 46 catches for 1,040 yards and 14 touchdowns, and he is the only FBS wide receiver past 1,000 yards this season. He has gone over 100 yards and scored in every game, including an eight-catch, 240-yard night in a loss to Texas Tech, and he sits fifth on BetMGM’s Heisman board at 18-1. He has also been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week seven straight times.
“I fell in love with the culture out there,” Legree told ESPN before the announcement.
What did Oregon State’s new staff see that others missed?
Legree switched from defensive back to receiver before his senior season, and Oregon State was the only FBS school to offer him at the position. He committed without seeing the campus, and asked about Oregon earlier this month, he joked that he barely knew it was a state at the time. First-year coach JaMarcus Shephard has said Legree was the first player he watched after taking the job.
“The day I got the job, Eron called me and said, ‘Hey, watch this kid right now,'” Shephard said.
“I didn’t know for sure how good of a receiver he was,” Shephard added.
A freshman producing at this level would have been one of the most sought-after players in the portal, and Oregon State is rebuilding after its in-state rival left for the Big Ten. The Beavers found a receiver the rest of FBS passed on, and in the first year of the Shephard and Hodges era, they kept him through the portal speculation.
Oregon State is 5-2 and 3-0 in the Pac-12, riding a five-game winning streak into a bye before it faces Fresno State on Oct. 31. A Nov. 14 game against new Pac-12 member Boise State could shape which Group of Six team reaches the College Football Playoff.
“We’ve built a great culture and it’s only going to get bigger from here. This is going to become the start of a national powerhouse,” Legree told ESPN.
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