Texas is putting real pressure on Oregon again in the 2027 recruiting cycle, and this time the fight is centered on another blue-chip target from the Lone Star State.
After Rivals projected the Longhorns to land Oregon five-star offensive lineman target Ismael Camara on June 29, Texas also moved into position with four-star running back Landen Williams-Callis. Both prospects are leaning toward staying home instead of heading to the Pacific Northwest.
Williams-Callis is no small pickup to chase. He’s a consensus top-10 recruit in Texas, with 247Sports slotting him as high as No. 38 overall and No. 3 at his position. He announced a top-10 list to Rivals’ Hayes Fawcett in May, and Oregon made the cut alongside Texas, Texas A&M and Houston.
Rivals says Texas is making a strong push for the running back, while Texas A&M remains heavily involved as well.
For Oregon, the backfield picture in the 2027 class has been relatively quiet. The Ducks did get an early win when four-star CaDarius McMiller committed on Feb. 14, but that’s been the only running back pledge so far.
McMiller, another Texas native, is a consensus top-15 back in the class. According to 247Sports, he scored 25 rushing touchdowns over his last two seasons at Tyler High and added four receiving touchdowns on 14 catches in that same span.
Oregon’s current roster situation may also be shaping how aggressively the Ducks keep chasing the position. Dan Lanning and running backs coach Ra’Shaad Samples already added blue-chip backs Tradarian Ball and Brandon Smith in the 2026 class, and the program also brings back Dierre Hill Jr. and Jordon Davison in 2026. Both will be juniors by the time the 2027 class arrives.
That doesn’t mean Oregon is out of the mix for Williams-Callis. It just means the Ducks may be able to live with McMiller if the recruitment doesn’t break their way.
Texas, meanwhile, is emerging as a serious obstacle for Oregon across this class. Camara and Williams-Callis are both names where the two programs have crossed paths, and the Longhorns have started to gain ground.
Camara looked like an Oregon lean after visiting Eugene for the Spring Game, but once he canceled all of his official visits, Texas surged ahead.
And if the Longhorns do land him, it would not be the first time they pulled a five-star target away from Oregon. In the 2026 cycle, five-star edge rusher Richard Wesley committed to the Ducks before backing off less than a month later and choosing Texas instead.
That recruitment only sharpened the rivalry, especially after Lanning went viral for a video of him jumping into a pool during Wesley’s Oregon commitment. If Texas ends up with both Camara and Williams-Callis, it would be another strong statement in the back-and-forth with Oregon and another sign of how well the Longhorns are playing with elite in-state talent.
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