Tertavian Ingram knows almost everything about Raymond James Stadium.

The redshirt sophomore receiver grew up five minutes away from the stadium, which is home to the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Ingram’s high school, Jefferson, is right around the corner. He’s watched his beloved Buccaneers play there many times over the years.

Ingram doesn’t know, however, what it feels like to play on the same field as his football heroes. He’s going to find out tonight when Kansas plays South Florida at Raymond James Stadium.

“Being able to actually play in it today — that’s going to be very exciting,” Ingram said, “and something I’ve always dreamed about doing.”

The dream started as Ingram grew up in West Tampa. Ingram can remember going to watch Buccanneer summer practices as a child. But Raymond James hadn’t been built yet. Until 1999, the Buccaneers played in Houlihan Stadium — nicknamed ‘the Big Sombrero.’

So that’s the venue where Ingram initially wanted to play. It seemed plausible enough. Every year, Houlihan Stadium hosted what Ingram described as a “Little League Super Bowl.”

The best youth football teams in Tampa would square off at the Big Sombrero once a year. Ingram’s teams were never good enough. His little league football career passed by without a chance to play at Houlihan Stadium.

It was on to high school at Jefferson for Ingram, where he could get a daily look at the new state-of-the-art Raymond James Stadium. He kept the dream. He still wanted to play on the same field as his favorite players, such as running back Warrick Dunn and linebacker Derrick Brooks.

Ingram worked at a Sonic near the stadium and had to deal with hectic crowds on game days. He hung around the stadium during the week leading up to Super Bowl XXXV in 2001 between the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants, which Raymond James hosted.

“I’m real seasoned with what goes on around Raymond James Stadium,” Ingram said.

South Florida gave him a chance to become even more familiar with the stadium. The Bulls, who play their home games at Raymond James, were the first team to offer Ingram a scholarship during his junior year of high school.

Ingram wasn’t so sure he wanted to play for South Florida. He wanted to get out of the state and go somewhere new. Kansas was one of the other schools recruiting him. Ingram’s father played football at Washburn in Topeka during his college years and still lived in the state. The Jayhawks offered him a scholarship. Ingram committed to Kansas.

“He happened to be one of the players we liked,” Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. “He really liked it here and has family here so that probably was a big factor.”

There was also something else Ingram liked about Kansas. He said he looked at the Jayhawks’ schedule while he contemplated his decision in 2005. Ingram noticed Kansas would be playing South Florida during his first year in Lawrence.

He knew that meant the Jayhawks would travel to play the Bulls in Tampa one of the next years. He found a way to leave Tampa while still keeping his dream of some day playing in Raymond James Stadium alive.

“I knew it would be quite an experience,” Ingram said. “I’ve been looking forward to it since I got here, honestly.”

Ingram’s decision to come to Kansas wasn’t without backlash. His friends didn’t understand why he would want to move 20 hours northwest to play for a traditionally weak program.

They couldn’t comprehend why he didn’t want to be part of an up-and-coming team at South Florida and play home games at Raymond James.

“I don’t know about that decision,” they would tell him. “You could have been an in-town hero.”

Tonight will serve as the perfect opportunity for Ingram to show all of them why he decided to go to Kansas. He said he expected 30 family members and close friends to be in the stands wearing shirts with his picture, name and number on them.

He knows the hype surrounding the Bulls and their No. 19 national ranking this season. He said while he was in Tampa this summer, he saw numerous billboards with pictures of South Florida defensive end George Selvie and quarterback Matt Grothe.

“When I went home, I was kind of getting mad seeing all those billboards, knowing we have to play them in the upcoming season,” Ingram said.

Ingram, however, might not actually get in the game tonight. He played sparingly in Kansas’ 40-14 victory against Florida International two weeks ago. He didn’t appear in the game against Louisiana Tech last week.

But that hasn’t changed his enthusiasm. After all, Ingram’s going to be on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ field, at Raymond James Stadium.

— — Edited by Kelsey Hayes