Why JaMarcus Shephard believes Oregon State Beavers have caught fire in 1st season

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JaMarcus Shephard and the Oregon State Beavers are off to a strong start this season, seeing the head coach reflect on the first half of the 2026 campaign.

Shephard is going through the first year of his head coaching career with the Beavers. Following multiple roles at different programs, he got his first big opportunity at Oregon State. He looks to elevate the program to serious status as national contenders.

It may not happen in Year 1, but the first half showed great progress. They are 5-2 after seven games, as Shephard reflected on the team’s success during an interview on the USA Sports show.

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“There’s a belief, there’s a buy-in from the administration, from our players, from our coaching staff, from our community. That’s probably been the most fun to see. Our community has bought in to this football team, the culture that we’re bringing. We’re also involving ourselves in the community. We had our players out feeding some of the homeless this past week,” Shephard said.

“Also, we took our whole team to the men’s soccer game, and our guys were fired up to see some of those goals that they were making. So I think we’ve bought into everything that Oregon State and Corvallis is all about, and when you do that, I’ll tell you what special things happen, like our stadium being filled, our research stadium. It’s fun.”