Recruiting experts say Oregon has moved into the lead for the most remarkable prospect in 2027 football recruiting, a 6-6, 330-pound five-star offensive lineman from Lemans, France and Gilmer, Texas.
Steve Wiltfong of Rivals reported this week, "Everyone looks to be chasing Oregon right now." Everyone includes Alabama, Auburn, Texas and Texas A&M. Ismael Camara has played one year of varsity football, and in his first season he amassed 178 pancakes. He squats 755 pounds, and he's raised over $2 million for disadvantaged children.
His mother died when he was three, and a series of improbable events and fortunate connections brought 6-6, 330 Ismael Camara to Gilmer to play football in May of 2024.
Raised by his grandmother in Lemans, France, Camara learned four languages, growing up playing soccer, badminton, basketball, swimming, wrestling, judo, football, track and field and boxing. With his size, intelligence and athleticism, he took to football right away.
"Everyone looks to be chasing Oregon right now"@SWiltfong_ says the Ducks could go into Texas and land one of the top OL in the country Ismael Camara 👀
— Josh Newberg (@josh_newberg) May 8, 2026
MORE: https://t.co/9dgzJ9m3lq pic.twitter.com/ZaZM2SI647
Watching Camara put opponents on the ground with a swipe of one giant paw, it's easy to see why the major football powers are so interested in him as a prospect. The Ducks have moved into the front of that chase, partly because they've gotten to know him as a person.
Camara told Sam Spiegelman of Rivals, "The athletes are an extension of the whole place. That connection is special up there.”
He makes his official visit to Eugene on June 19. Having already secured the nucleus of a top offensive line class in Cameron Wagner of St. Joseph, Illinois, Gus Corsair of Hays, Kansas and Avery Michael of Turlock, California, the French Texas prodigy is the linchpin, the jewel, the generational difference-maker for offensive line coach A'lique Terry and the Ducks.
In one season Camara earned Navy and Polynesian Bowl All-American honors, the Offensive Line MVP at Under Armour Next in New Orleans, the No. 27 prospect at the 247Sports Composite and No. 3 interior lineman.
His physical traits and intense personal drive make him the most coveted Oregon offensive line target since Josh Conerly and Penei Sewell.
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