MIAMI — Former Colquitt County High tackle B.J. Baker is expected to start for Charleston Southern when the Buccaneers face the University of Miami at 7:30 tonight at Dolphin Stadium.

The former All-Region 1-AAAAA player is listed as the starter at right guard.

The 6-foot-5, 295-pounder is a red-shirt freshman. His senior season for the Packers was 2006.

There’s more than a few Miami players who’ll freely acknowledge not knowing many specifics about Charleston Southern, including where the school is located or the names of some key Buccaneers.

Think that means Miami is overlooking its opening night foe? The Hurricanes insist that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Miami’s season begins Thursday night in their new Dolphin Stadium home against Charleston Southern, a Football Championship Subdivision member. It seems like a mismatch of colossal proportions — Miami has five national championships, Charleston Southern has two winning seasons — but the rebuilding Hurricanes know the Buccaneers will arrive believing they have nothing to lose.

The Buccaneers are touting this game as one of the biggest in their school’s history, a chance to shock the college football establishment and earn a piece of spotlight on the national stage. After learning that North Texas — Miami’s originally scheduled Week 1 opponent — bought its way out of the game for a chance to visit LSU, Charleston Southern quickly began pleading for the chance to be the replacement.

“We’re very grateful to coach Shannon and the University of Miami for giving us this opportunity,” said Charleston Southern coach Jay Mills. “Since the moment I arrived on this campus, we’ve talked about Miami’s football program and what they’ve done in the last 25 years with five national championships and how we hope to emulate that on the FCS level, being another small, private institution that wants to be nationally recognized.”

The game isn’t on television (the only Miami game on TV Thursday night will be when Vanderbilt faces Miami of Ohio, which just happens to be Charleston Southern’s Week 3 opponent).