Oregon State WR Jesse Legree getting Heisman Trophy attention

The Oregon State Beavers have a star on their hands in freshman wide receiver Jesse Legree.

Legree is such a star, in fact, that he's being named amongst the best and brightest college football has to offer.

We're talking about Legree's name being mentioned alongside Ohio State Buckeyes' superstar wideout Jeremiah Smith and Miami Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah.

In a look ahead to the Week 7 college football slate, which is packed, ESPN's David Hale put Legree fifth on his ranking of Heisman Trophy candidates.

Legree has caught 38 passes for 932 yards and 12 touchdowns so far this season. He leads the nation in yards and touchdowns caught, ahead of OSU's Smith (916 yards and 11 touchdowns), who is No. 1 on Hale's rankings and just about everyone else's as well.

Of course, Smith has been putting up these numbers against Big Ten competition. He's racked up 516 yards and eight touchdowns against Illinois, No. 14 Iowa and Maryland.

Jesse Legree having a season for the ages with Oregon State

Legree's last three opponents have been UTEP, Colorado State and San Diego State, so there's certainly a difference in level of competition.

Touchdowns speak volumes in any conference, though. To that point, Legree has notched two three-touchdown performances in a row.

That's also not to say that Legree hasn't done it against better competition either, because he has. Impressively, earlier this season, he caught five passes for 136 yards and a touchdown against No. 23 Houston and then followed that up with eight catches for 240 yards and two touchdowns against No. 13 Texas Tech.

He's a stud; there's no doubt about it, and Oregon State fans better enjoy him while they have him. He'll undoubtedly end up in the transfer portal this offseason and end up playing somewhere like Ohio State or Miami.

In the meantime, Legree has five more games on the schedule to make a Heisman impression, and that includes a game at Boise State (currently ranked No. 23 in the country) on Nov. 14.

Will he win the Heisman? Probably not. That's Smith's trophy to lose. 

To even be in the conversation as a former 3-star recruit with no Power Four offers is incredible, though. He's having a season for the ages.