The college football program at Oregon State is in a period of transition. Not only are the Beavers joining a new conference (kind of) with a new head coach, the roster looks completely different.
As does the NIL money attached to those players.
The new college football coaching staff did not want to throw a bag at one big name. It wants to build across the board.
Oregon State is a completely different college football team in 2026.
The Beavers were at their highest high in more than two decades in 2022. Oregon State finished with 10 wins for only the third time in program history to finish ranked No. 14 in Jonathan Smith’s fifth year as head coach. It was a remarkable turnaround for a team that won less than 10 games, combined, from 2015-2018. And then it all came crashing down.
Smith left for Michigan State. Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Washington State, Oregon, Colorado and Utah bailed for the Big 10, ACC and Big 12. Only Oregon State and Washington State remained as members of the conference.
The Beavers went a combined 7-17 in the last two seasons as independents playing a partial Mountain West schedule. Trent Bray was fired as head coach halfway through 2025.
JaMarcus Shephard took over at the end of November. Roster management was the first order of business. More than 30 players from last year’s team hit the transfer portal. He was tasked with a rebuild.
The most impactful additions include Mercer quarterback Braden Atkinson, who will compete for the starting job with incumbent starter Maalik Murphy, Central Michigan tight end DeCorion Temple, Louisville offensive lineman Carter Guillaume, Alabama wide receiver Aeryn Hampton, UTRGV wide receiver Xavyion Noland, Vanderbilt running back AJ Newberry and Idaho linebacker Dylan Layne. There are more than 20 incoming transfers in total, plus 19 junior college or high school signees.
The NIL money will be distributed equally.
One of Trent Bray’s biggest moves as head coach was to sign Maalik Murphy. The former four-star recruit played at Texas and Duke before he landed at Oregon State in 2025. He signed an NIL deal worth $1.5 million. In other words, he signed an NIL deal worth the same amount of money as two offensive lineman, a wide receiver and a few defensive players combined.
That will not be the case in 2026.
According to West Coast Biased Football, the emphasis is on roster depth instead of one star player. All of the funds will be distributed fairly evenly across the board. None of the Beavers’ expected starters on defense will make more than $200,000 this season. Even Murphy agreed to return on a much less expensive, team-oriented deal.
JaMarcus Shepard took a very different approach to NIL money and that showed up in the roster. He was able to land multiple higher-profile transfers at multiple positions instead of just one big-name quarterback. Will it translate to wins? We’ll see.
However, Oregon State only won two games last season. It can’t get any worse.