Florida will get its best shot at a family legacy with Colton Hiller's visit this weekend

Maxwell Hiller decided to become the centerpiece of the Florida Gators' 2027 recruiting class because the people in the program and the environment in Gainesville made him feel like home. But what is home without family?

Well, the good news for Hiller is that family could be on the way. His brother, Colton Hiller, is one of the top basketball recruits in the 2028 class, and he'll be on campus, presumably with his older brother, for Saturday's football opener against FAU.

Talk about a budding legacy? The brothers are both among the best in the country at their respective sports, and you can believe that whatever relationship exists between Jon Sumrall and Todd Golden will get tighter as they try to corner the market on Hiller family members wearing orange and blue.

5-star basketball prospect Colton Hiller makes plans to be at Florida this weekend

Colton Hiller is the top-ranked small forward and the number one overall prospect on the 247Sports Composite. Listed at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds, the younger Hiller has offers from UConn, North Carolina, Kansas, Syracuse, Alabama, Notre Dame and Indiana. But the leader in the clubhouse appears to be Duke, and he is expected to take an official visit to Durham in October.

Here's the interesting kicker: it's not known if Florida has offered Hiller. The Gators are not on the offer list that is consistently updated by 247Sports. Now, basketball recruiting is a lot different and it's a global thing. So a lack of an offer doesn't mean that Golden and the Gators aren't interested. It might mean that the position is already accounted for within the roster or there is enough intel out there that has linked Hiller to another program, so it's not worth the time. 

But clearly there's enough communication from Golden for Hiller to take the trip to Gainesville and check things out. Duke is Duke, and we don't need to go into why the Blue Devils are always going to be a factor for any player Jon Scheyer wants, but Florida won the national championship in 2025 and are favorites to get to the Final Four in 2027. The Gators will also have two players likely selected in the first round of the 2027 NBA Draft, so the proof of concept is there.

Golden's future with the program is less determined, even though he signed a contract extension a few days. The NBA could always come calling for the 41-year-old coach and if the rumors about him being the hand-picked eventual successor for Steve Kerr with the Golden State Warriors is true, it will be tough for him to turn that down. But that might not happen for a couple of years and if Hiller is as good as advertised, he might be a one or two-year player in college. 

There's a lot of speculation, but this visit adds a fun, unexpected subplot to Sumrall's first game as the Gators football coach. He'll be welcomed by a full house in the Swamp and the top commit in the 2027 class will be in the crowd. But this could also be a big step to adding a future superstar to the basketball program. 

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