Russell Wilson is already taking Future Zahir on campus visits, and for the first one, he went big.

In a video shared on Instagram on Saturday, March 14, the NFL star revealed that he had taken 11-year-old Future on his first-ever college visit, with the two heading to the University of Texas at Austin. The trip included a tour of the school’s athletic facilities for the Texas Longhorns, turning the outing into a full-on introduction to one of college sports’ biggest brands.

Future seemed impressed almost immediately. Sitting beside Wilson in a car, he summed up the visit in a way that practically wrote the caption for itself. “I love Texas,” he said. “I love the stadium. It’s just yeah, everything’s bigger in Texas, look at the stadium, pretty big.”

The video then cut to clips from around campus, showing Future exploring the locker room, football field, auditorium and the school’s baseball batting cages. He was dressed for the occasion too, wearing a Texas Longhorns T-shirt in the school’s signature orange, while Wilson also leaned into the theme in orange of his own. At one point, Future posed for photos and flashed the Longhorns hand sign as the pair toured the Hildebrand Football Center and checked out the football team’s trophies.

Wilson later captioned the post, “‘Hook’Em!’ Fun time! Future’s first campus visit! @TexasLonghorns.”

The moment landed as a sweet family update, but it also came with a bigger layer of context. Wilson, now 37 and playing for the New York Giants, knows a thing or two about college athletics himself. He played college football and baseball at North Carolina State for two years before transferring to the University of Wisconsin to play for the Badgers in 2011. The following year, he was drafted into the NFL by the Seattle Seahawks with the 75th overall pick.

Future, meanwhile, is Ciara’s eldest son, whom she welcomed in May 2014 with her former partner, rapper Future. The former couple split later that year.

Ciara met Wilson in 2015, and the two married in 2016. Since then, they have extended their family with daughter Sienna Princess, 8, son Win Harrison, 5, and daughter Amora Princess, 2.

Wilson has also spoken before about what it meant to step into that role in Future’s life. During an appearance on I AM ATHLETE in February 2024, he opened up for the first time about becoming a stepparent after meeting Future when he was just 9 months old. Asked whether the prospect initially felt scary, Wilson said it was less about fear and more about purpose.

“Not scary, but it was also an opportunity,” he said. “Like, ‘Okay God, this is what you want me to do?’ Stepping in to raise a child with [Ciara] and realizing that, ‘Okay God, I know she’s the one for me.’ But also too, I’m gonna take this responsibility as well.”

“And I was ready for that,” he added. “What a gift.”