Omar Speights chose to transfer to LSU to win a national championship

When former Oregon State linebacker Omar Speights entered the transfer portal to find a new home for his fifth and final college football season, there where a few factors at the top of his mind for finding a new home.

Those factors led him to transfer to LSU.

“When I was in the portal, my big decision maker was I wanted to go somewhere that had the opportunity to win a national championship,” Speights said this week. “I felt like Coach Kelly was on the verge of doing that here. Ultimately my decision to come here was, it just felt like home. When I took my visit, they made it feel like home and they made feel like it was a place where I was wanted.”

Speights was a four-year starter for the Beavers at linebacker, including starting every game his final three years at the school.

As a freshman in 2019, he was named to multiple Freshman All-American teams after finishing with 73 tackles. Those 73 tackles were third in the nation among all freshman, whether they had redshirted or not.

He kept up the production over the next few years. During the 2020 COVID season, Speights had 63 tackles, which was second-most in the conference. In 2021, he had 89 tackles plus two interceptions. Speights notched another 83 tackles last year when he earned a spot on the All-Pac-12 First Team.

Speights ranked as the No. 5 linebacker in the transfer portal, according to On3’s Transfer Portal Rankings. He is one of 12 transfers into the Tigers program.

Omar Speights talked with Jayden Daniels during transfer process

When Omar Speights was making his decision about where to transfer, one person he talked to was LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels. When Daniels was at Arizona State, he and Speights played against each other.

One thing they talked about was the difference in the environments they play in in the SEC compared to the Pac-12.

“I talked to him about it but I don’t think that’s what sold me,” Speights said. “Ultimately, I wanted to come play SEC ball and like I said the two factors of being wanted and winning the national chip which drove me here. But I knew I wanted to come play SEC ball, but not me and Jayden, we talked about the difference between the Pac-12 and SEC.”

Daniels transferred to LSU after three years with the Sun Devils.