It's not the main reason he came to Florida State, but it's certainly an important one now that this week has finally arrived.

Keir Thomas, who spent the first five years of his college career at South Carolina but hails from Miami Central High School, will finally get to play his hometown Hurricanes this weekend.

And he'll do it as a Florida State Seminole.

"This was one of the games I had circled this year," said Thomas, a defensive end who recorded two sacks last week in the Seminoles' 28-14 loss to N.C. State. "Being from down there, and then I got a chance to come to Florida State to play against those guys, this is a game we're going to remember for the rest of our lives. We'll talk about it forever.

"Just me being from down there, it means everything to me."

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Thomas, who is one of many South Florida natives on the FSU squad, says he knows plenty of players on the Miami roster.

But he's not interested in catching up with them the week before the game.

"Nah, I'm not talking to those guys," he said.

While this is his first chance to play in the rivalry, Thomas does have some good memories of previous games. At the top of the list was FSU's 2014 victory, when Miami product Dalvin Cook scored the go-ahead touchdown with 3:05 remaining and then flashed a "305" with his fingers to represent his hometown area code.

"I actually went to Dalvin's first game against them ... he scored, and it was like 3:05 left on the clock," Thomas said. "I'm pretty sure he's gonna remember that for the rest of his life."

Redshirt freshman center Maurice Smith also hails from Miami Central High School, and he knows a few players on the Hurricanes' roster as well. But like Thomas, he's taking the approach of radio silence this week.

"Nah, I don't talk to nobody," Smith said. "This is a big-time game."

He then added: "It's a game to remember. That's all it is. You go back home and they talk about Florida State and UM. It's just something to remember all the time, and it's just a very big game."

While this year's showdown isn't featuring two prominent national powers, that doesn't mean it doesn't matter.