Oregon State’s Jesse Legree Tops the True Freshman All-America Team

Oregon State offered Jesse Legree a scholarship late on Signing Day, after just about everyone else had passed on a 5-foot-10, 160-pound receiver from Baltimore. Seven weeks into his college career, he leads the country with 1,040 receiving yards and 14 touchdown catches, and he is the easy headliner of the On3 true freshman All-America team released this week.

The true freshman All-America team, put together by On3 recruiting analyst Charles Power, covers 22 first-year players. What jumps out is how many of them are carrying real weight for teams with real goals, including two starters on a BYU team now ranked No. 2.

The Full True Freshman All-America Team

Here is the full midseason list with one number that sums up each player’s first half of the season.

Source:
On3 midseason true freshman All-America team, published October 21, 2026.

Jesse Legree is the story of the year

Legree’s path to Corvallis reads like a movie script. The Baltimore native played for St. Frances Academy, drew interest from Pittsburgh and a few FCS schools, and even had Temple thinking about him at cornerback before Oregon State stepped in late. His high school coach, Messay Hailemariam, did not hide his emotions about the offer.

“I cried like a baby, man,” Hailemariam told CBS Sports, remembering the moment the Beavers called on Signing Day.

The production has turned that late offer into a bargain. Legree went for 240 yards and two touchdowns against Texas Tech, and he needs 276 more yards to pass the 1,315 that Jeremiah Smith posted as a freshman at Ohio State. Former Oregon State star Chad Johnson even went on his Nightcap Show podcast and offered to match a $2 million NIL payment if first-year head coach JaMarcus Shephard put up the same amount to keep Legree in Corvallis.

Honestly, that offer tells the whole story. When a three-star freshman becomes a retention concern by October, the recruiting rankings missed something big, and every school that passed on him will hear about it in the portal window.

Five Linemen and a few surprises made the cut

Look past Legree and the true freshman All-America team shows a few trends worth chewing on.

• Five true freshmen made the list on the offensive line, which is the hardest position in the sport to play early. West Virginia’s Kevin Brown has played 524 snaps at left tackle, and Georgia’s Zykie Helton has allowed three pressures in 205 dropbacks at right guard.
•  BYU placed two players, receiver Legend Glasker and right tackle Bott Mulitalo, who allowed zero pressures on 38 pass attempts in the win over Notre Dame.
•  Vanderbilt also landed two in quarterback Jared Curtis and defensive back Mason Lewis, whose 34 tackles and four pass breakups have made him a regular in the Commodores’ secondary.
• The SEC put eight players on the team, more than any other league, and the Big Ten was next with six.

Curtis is the name that will carry the most debate. The five-star quarterback flipped from Georgia to Vanderbilt in December and became the highest-ranked recruit in program history, but his 1,242 passing yards come with seven interceptions and only six touchdown passes. Vanderbilt is 0-4 in the SEC, so his spot on this team says more about the raw tools than the results.

Notre Dame running back Jonaz Walton is the other freshman whose numbers jump. Before Notre Dame’s trip to BYU, he ran for 181 yards against Stanford, helping him reach 426 yards at 7.5 per carry. He has done it in his first season after Notre Dame lost Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price from last year’s backfield.

The defensive side has its own gems. Ohio State cornerback Jay Timmons started in Week 1 and has six pass breakups and two forced fumbles; Northern Illinois linebacker Jack Murray leads all true freshmen with 43 tackles, and Miami safety JJ Dunnigan returned an interception for a touchdown against Clemson. Kentucky receiver Kenny Darby followed offensive coordinator Joe Sloan from LSU and is now the Wildcats’ leading receiver with 34 catches for a team tied for first in the SEC.

The best freshman on this list was a three-star prospect that most of the country ignored, and a five-star quarterback at Vanderbilt is still learning to protect the ball. The recruiting rankings get a lot right, but Legree’s 14 touchdown catches are a reminder of what they still miss.