Omar Speights: Tragedy brings 4-star OSU commit to Corvallis early

Omar Speights, a senior at Crescent Valley High School, will join older brother Jeromy Reichner in the Beavers football program next spring. (CORVALLIS -- Like many others before him, Omar Speights earned a golden ticket out of West Philadelphia through athletic prowess.

Speights, a four-star recruit for the class of 2019, wound up cashing the ticket sooner than expected to escape the neighborhood's dangerous streets.

The murder of a close friend set off a series of events that culminated in Speights moving across the county to live with his older brother, Jeromy Reichner, in Corvallis. Reichner is a junior defensive end at Oregon State.

Speights, who committed to the Beavers in June as an…