Oregon State prepping for another top-25 opponent in Texas Tech

Oregon State's breakout wide receiver earned some conference accolades after his collegiate debut.

Jesse Legree, a freshman from Baltimore , posted 136 receiving yards and a touchdown in the Beavers' 33-20 loss to top 25-ranked Houston . Days later, Legree was named the Pac-12 freshman of the week.

Oregon State head coach JaMarcus Shephard has been raving about Legree since the spring.

"I don't understand why you guys wouldn't believe me when I'm saying the kid's going to be good. It makes zero sense to me why you would even second guess that," Shephard said.

Shephard's resume with freshmen wide receivers has been more than stellar throughout his career. Rondale Moore , a former Purdue standout currently on the Minnesota Vikings , earned all-American honors as a freshman with Shephard as his coach. David Bell , another Purdue alum and current NFL player, was Big 10 freshman of the year. Ryan Williams, an Alabama eye-popping receiver, received all-conference and freshman all-American honors with Shephard at the helm.

So for Shephard, he's had his eye on Legree as one of the next great freshman receivers and was far from surprised about his output against Houston .

"We knew that he's just got a mentality about himself, being from the DMV … we just knew that throughout all of spring ball, camp, he just played like a veteran," Shephard said.

But now, Shephard anticipates future defenses to tailor to the potential of Legree's game. When No. 13 Texas Tech comes to Reser Stadium in Corvallis Sept. 12, the Oregon State offense will have to call on Legree and its plethora of receiving talent to connect with quarterback Braden Atkinson in order to compete.

Against Houston, Atkinson completed 29 of 48 passes to nine different receivers for 376 yards and a touchdown.

Oregon State's sideline-to-sideline, fast-paced, often-throwing offense found a groove in the second half of the game in Houston — and it seems like a sign of what's to come.

"We've got a lot of young men who can do a lot of different things for our offense," Shephard said. "Each one of them just needs to work on doing their job. We expect multiple guys to contribute … we don't want to allow an opponent to just focus on one person. We just can't allow that."

Shephard has full confidence in Atkinson's ability to spread the football. Shephard described some of Atkinson's traits in the first game as present, focused and calm.

"The leadership piece of our football team was shown by not just our coaches … but also our captains and especially our quarterback," Shephard said. "Our quarterback was a guy who I felt like controlled the game very well. He did a really good job of executing the plays exactly how we wanted it to be done and he did it with a lot of precision."

There's even an acronym floating around the Beavers ' offense for Atkinson; F.T.S.

"We weren't telling him he had to throw to a specific person. We just had him go through his reads like he's supposed to and deliver the ball to the individual who he's supposed to deliver it to based on what the reads are," Shephard said. "He needs to be the distribution center of the football, that's his job."

Oregon State's second game will be its second against a top-25 opponent. The Beavers left the first game with some notes — in the run game, on the lines, in the defensive backfield — but Shephard looks forward to finding answers.

Houston quarterback Connor Weigman went for 305 passing yards and a touchdown and helped a pair of receivers garner over 80 yards, including Amare Thomas, who went for 133 yards and a touchdown.

Houston also had two rushers gain over 75 yards apiece.

"As I told (our team) as we were getting off the plane, we're better than that," Shephard said. "We're a better football team than what we played on Saturday and I was very emphatic about that. I'm continuing to let them know we're a better football team than what we showed on Saturday."

In Texas Tech's season-opening 33-10 win over Abiline Christian, the Red Raiders were efficient in a various facets of the game.

Texas Tech quarterback Will Hammond completed 26 of 33 passes for 298 yards and a touchdown. Ten different receivers caught a pass from Hammond and three of them gained over 50 yards total.

In the run game, two different Texas Tech rushers scored touchdowns and three had 10 or more carries. It's an offense that tried to find balance and will look to execute at an even higher level Saturday in Corvallis.

Texas Tech's defense, similarly, executed well with three sacks, an interception and just 10 points allowed. In an effort to not let the defense get into rhythm, Shephard said the Oregon State offense must start fast.

"It's really a pillar of our program," Shephard said. "When you talk about those three things: starting fast, the middle eight and finishing strong. We've got to be better in all three phases of that ... I think that they figured it out as the game was going along. I think they started out really slow, I felt like we weren't as fast early in the game, and we got faster as the game went on."

Last year, Texas Tech defeated Oregon State 45-14 in Lubbock, Texas. The Red Raiders were ranked then like they are now but for Oregon State, a new coaching staff and new roster takes on a familiar top-25 opponent exactly a year after the last contest.

How to watch Oregon State vs. Texas Tech

Oregon State vs. Texas Tech will air on CBS at 4:30 p.m. PT Sept. 12 from Reser Stadium in Corvallis.

Streaming options include Fubo , DirecTV, YouTube TV or Paramount+.

See photos as Oregon State football plays Houston in season opener

Landon Bartlett covers Oregon State and high school sports for the Statesman Journal. He can be reached at LBartlett@statesmanjournal.com or on X, TikTok or Instagram @bartlelo.