CLEVELAND — DeShone Kizer’s connections with Ben Roethlisberger run deeper than their shared Ohio roots, rocket right arms and jersey numbers.

Turns out, Kizer even owned Big Ben.

“I’m sure I drafted him in fantasy leagues,” Cleveland’s rookie quarterback said.

Things are about to get very real on Sunday for Kizer, who will make his NFL regular-season debut against one of his boyhood idols — and a nasty defense — when the Browns, without top pick Myles Garret, host Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers in their opener. For Kizer, the former Notre Dame starter who just might be the Browns’ answer to a long-term solution at quarterback, the chance to match up against Roethlisberger is almost too much to believe.

“It is surreal,” he said. “There is a lot of that that has happened. I step out there in all of the preseason games that I play, and I look at guys that I have been watching on TV since I have been young. Big Ben has been playing in this league since I have been in grade school, so that is just a really weird concept.”

Kizer isn’t intimidated in going against a quarterback likely destined for immortalization with a Hall of Fame bust.