Three years after being selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL Draft, Neil Rackers found himself out of a job.

The place-kicker’s name had found its way onto the team’s list of final roster cuts, leaving Rackers to join others in the long line of unemployed athletes seeking another shot in the League.

Little did he know a former Illini teammate was busy setting the wheels in motion.

Rackers and current Cardinals long snapper Nathan Hodel spent four seasons as special teams starters for the Orange and Blue, from 1996-99.

With Hodel manning the snaps, Rackers nailed the Illini single-game (nine) and single-season (44) records for extra points in 1999.

They developed an invaluable familiarity with each other’s tendencies – Hodel did his part and Rackers, his.

But it was time for Hodel to do a little bit more: find his former college teammate a kicking gig.

“Nathan is an integral part of me just getting here (to Arizona),” Rackers said. “When they needed a kicker and I was unemployed, he went upstairs saying, ‘I know this guy, you need to bring him in.'”

An injury to then-Cardinals kicker Bill Gramatica opened the door for Rackers’ return to the NFL and a reunion with a familiar face from his time at Illinois.

Come Sunday, the Hodel-to-Rackers routine will take its act to sports’ biggest stage – Super Bowl XLIII.

“It is kind of weird because we’ve seen each other mature and go from college, when you’re running around, you’re away from home for the first time, you don’t know what’s going on,” Hodel said. “Now, we were just making plans to go down to the Super Bowl, taking our families … it’s really a complete maturing process.”

Steel resolve

Carey Davis is the picture of perseverance.

After years of bouncing between various NFL practice squads, the former Illinois fullback has finally made a name for himself on a Steelers roster flush with players wearing Super Bowl XL championship rings.

As an undrafted free agent in 2003, Davis earned a brief stay on the Indianapolis Colts’ active roster before accepting practice squad stints with Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Miami.

“It’s been a long road, hopping around from team to team, feeling like I had done everything I could do in other places,” Davis said.

“There were times I got frustrated, I never said, ‘This is it, I’m done, I can’t do it anymore.’ When you’re in a situation like that you can either give up or go harder. I’ve always been the type to work harder and put more effort in, and it finally paid off.”

The job with the Steelers produced early dividends for the former journeyman. Davis was named the team’s starting fullback in September and carried the full workload at the position after his backup suffered a season-ending injury in Week 6.

Any chance of seeing an all-Illinois backfield in Sunday’s game was lost in Week 4 when backup running back Rashard Mendenhall suffered a fractured shoulder against Baltimore.

For Mendenhall, watching from the sidelines for much of the season has not been easy.

“Rashard’s been doing pretty good; he’s been rehabbing,” Davis said. “Obviously, it’s frustrating when we’ve had big games and he hasn’t been able to help us.”

Worst to first

The Arizona Cardinals are no strangers to futility.

Hodel, Rackers and the rest of the franchise lost enough games in 2006 to finish dead last in the NFC West. An 8-8 finish in 2007 indicated progress, but a run to Super Bowl XLIII capped an improbable season that even caught the players off guard.

Lost in years of shortcomings was the seemingly foreign feeling that accompanies success on the field.

“We got out ahead in our division early, and that was some success that none of us really had ever been accustomed to,” Hodel said. “So once we locked up the division, sometimes you struggle with success, and we did. We were going out and playing games that didn’t affect our seed in the playoffs and didn’t affect us because we had already locked up the division, and we had to learn how to win.”

A 7-3 start to the season preceded a 1-4 slide which served as a wake-up call for Rackers, Hodel and their teammates. Once playoff time arrived, the Cardinals found themselves in the familiar role of underdog.

Lost in the shuffle of what Rackers calls “already well-established” teams, the NFC West Champions seemed to be counted out before Wild Card Weekend even began.

“Nobody really gave us a chance,” Rackers said. “When we started we were the worst playoff team in NFL history. It’s been really fun to prove people wrong.”

Bound by their success, another important element of team unity has run rampant through the Cardinal locker room – loyalty.

Rackers testified to the dedication even the most talented of players on the roster have shown to their teammates and the franchise.

“To me, it’s just fun to see guys like Adrian Wilson and Larry Fitzgerald, guys who said they wanted to re-sign here and make it work in Arizona instead of leaving,” Rackers said.

“It’s fun that way. Hard work pays off.”

Rackers himself had the opportunity to seek the greener pastures of the “already well-established.”

In the midst of a 2005 season that earned him a Pro Bowl appearance, Rackers made reservations for an extended stay in Phoenix, Ariz. – to the tune of a four-year, $6.4 million contract.

“I felt a lot of loyalty towards the Cardinals for bringing me in off the street, and I wanted to stay here and make it work,” Rackers said.

Orange and Blue, through and through

There have been many a twist and turn in the careers of Davis, Hodel and Rackers that will lead them to take the field at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday.

For them, however, where they end up is just as important as where they started.

“Playing in the Big Ten, just like any major conference, you’ve got athletes every week that are going to be playing on Sunday,” Hodel said. “When you show up and there’s 70,000 people in the stands, that pressure and that atmosphere is extremely comparable to the NFL.”

Davis took the field at Memorial Stadium under the tutelage of then-head coach Ron Turner, who now serves as the offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears.

The pro-style attack Turner installed in his time at Illinois allowed Davis to more easily make the transition to the NFL.

“A lot of the things we did at Illinois, as far as play calling, and routes and runs and things like that, are some of the plays we call now,” Davis said. “Being familiar with the things and transferring it to the NFL helped me a lot.”

Familiarity, according to Hodel, can sometimes be “the most important thing in the NFL.”

The familiarity he holds with Rackers, his longtime teammate and fellow special teams player, could play a significant role in deciding the outcome of this year’s Super Bowl.

But no matter what happens in Tampa, Fla., on Sunday, Hodel knows his roots in Champaign, Ill., have served him well, both on and off the gridiron.

“My time at Illinois, not just on the field but off the field, I was ready for anything,” Hodel said.

“Probably more than anything, my time prepared me to be a good individual, a man, and that helps immensely when you translate it to the football field.”