Jesse Legree says he's staying at Oregon State in 2027.

In a sign that the college football world is a lot different than it was just a few seasons ago, the star freshman wide receiver held a news conference Friday to say that he wouldn't be transferring to another school at the end of the season.

The moment Jesse Legree announced that he will be staying at Oregon State for the 2027-28 season: pic.twitter.com/5vXPJmO9uL

— 247Sports (@247Sports) October 23, 2026

Legree has 46 catches for 1,040 yards and 14 touchdowns through just seven games so far in 2026. He's the only wide receiver at the top level of college football who has topped the 1,000-yard mark this season.

A three-star recruit in the class of 2026, Legree has at least 100 yards in each of Oregon State's seven games this season and has scored a TD in every game. He had eight catches for 240 yards and two scores in the Beavers' Week 2 loss to Texas Tech, and had 10 catches for 191 yards and three touchdowns in a blowout win over San Diego State in Week 6. That was the second consecutive game Legree had caught three touchdowns and he enters the Beavers' Week 8 bye with four straight multi-TD games.

He's been so good that even oddsmakers are taking notice. Legree is currently the No. 5 Heisman favorite at BetMGM with odds of 18-1.

Under first-year coach JaMarcus Shepherd, Oregon State is 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the Pac-12. Its only losses have come to No. 14 Houston and No. 8 Texas Tech. With Boise State now in the Pac-12, a Nov. 14 showdown between the Broncos and Beavers could be pivotal in determining the Group of Six representative in the College Football Playoff.

It's the first year since 2023 — when the Pac-12 included teams like USC and Oregon — that the conference has been more than Washington State and Oregon State. The two schools were left out in the cold as most of their counterparts found seemingly greener pastures (and more revenue) in the Big 12, Big Ten and even the ACC.

In addition to Boise State, the Pac-12 added Fresno State, SDSU, Colorado State, Utah State and Texas State in 2025.

But the conference is still at a massive financial disadvantage compared to the four power conferences. And that relative lack of revenue — both from media rights and NIL deals — made many across the country wonder if Legree could be wooed away from Oregon State with a big-money offer from a power conference school.

That apparently isn't happening. Former Oregon State and Cincinnati Bengals WR Chad Ochocinco said recently on his podcast that he was willing to pay $2 million to keep Legree at Oregon State.

But no matter if it was Ochocinco's money, someone else's or a combination of financial factors that kept Legree at Oregon State, it's hard not to think that his announcement is the first of many similar announcements in the years to come from players at non-power schools.

Given the resource gap between power programs and those who don't get nearly as big of a slice of the playoff and TV pie, top talents at Group of Six schools are immediately going to be considered transfer targets for ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC programs. And players like Legree who want to stay at their current schools will be working to quell and get ahead of that speculation.

Source: Yahoo Sports