The Beavers’ 2026 recruiting class includes a familiar last name for both Oregon and Oregon State fans.
Spend an afternoon at Autzen Stadium on a football gameday, and you’re guaranteed to see the clip of Kenny Wheaton running back an interception for Oregon against Washington in 1994.
More than three decades later, his son is signing with the Ducks’ in-state rival.
Three-star cornerback Kai Wheaton signed with the Oregon State Beavers on Wednesday, OSU’s second acquisition of early National Signing Day.
Wheaton — hailing from Allen, Texas — is rated the No. 107 cornerback in the country and No. 177 player in Texas according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. He verbally committed to the Beavers in June and will stick with the program under new head coach JaMarcus Shephard.
Wheaton is also cousins with Markus Wheaton, the former Oregon State wide receiver from 2009-12 who was an all-Pac-12 first team selection in 2012 before a six-year NFL career.
OSU’s first signee of the three-day National Signing Day period was a flip early Wednesday morning, as Shephard and his staff convinced former South Alabama commit and three-star edge rusher Caleb Metzner to come to Corvallis.
The Beavers have six other verbal commits in the 2026 class so far: wide receiver Cynai Thomas (San Francisco, CA); tight end Landon Cook (Concord, CA); linebacker Jeremiah Brown (San Jacinto, CA); edge rusher Adel Dorr (Issaquah, WA); safety Deryk Farmer (Medford, OR); and athlete Rocco De La Rosa (Philomath, OR).
