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From there, he joined NC State as a graduate student, and decided to try and walk on to the football team. He made the squad, won the starting kicking job, and had immediate success, leading the ACC in field goal percentage (88.9%) and connecting on all eight attempts over 40-yards.

After just the one year kicking for the Wolfpack, Hauschka was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Vikings, but was released towards the end of the preseason. The Ravens had seen Hauschka's ability first-hand when he nailed all three attempts (including a 48-yarder) against Baltimore in a preseason game two weeks prior, and GM Ozzie Newsome liked what he saw. A day after being released by Minnesota, the Ravens pounced, claiming the 23-year-old off waivers.

The rookie was on the active roster for the season-opener, and with his strong leg, was handed the kickoff duties over 19-year veteran Matt Stover. Since then, he spent most of his time on the practice squad, but was added to the active roster two weeks ago. Last week, in Houston, Hauschka was back booting kickoffs, and got a surprise opportunity to kick a field goal which was outside Stover's range.

Hauschka calmly jogged out and kicked it through, and in his first NFL field goal attempt, he converted on a 54-yarder.

"I didn't even know they were gonna have me attempt any [field goals] this season," Hauschka told me, "and sure enough, my first game back since the first game of the season, I was out there kicking a 54-yarder. So I was definitely a little nervous for it -- obviously it's a long kick and it was also my first attempt, but I've been here training for this moment. That's why we do what we do, we practice hard, and then when you get out on the field it's just kind of programmed in you to just swing easy and I was fortunate to get it through there."

I asked Hauschka if it helped that it was a surprise, since he didn't have time to think it over and work himself up.

"You're right," he said, "it probably did help, I was sent out there and just sort of did my thing and the ball went through the uprights. I was very fortunate."

Hauschka now stands as somewhat of a long-distance kicking specialist for the Ravens. They have the third-most accurate kicker in NFL history in Stover on their roster, but would like the option of having the stronger-legged Hauschka active on gamedays in case a 50+ yarder is an option, like it was against the Texans.

Coach John Harbaugh said earlier this week that the team will try to have both kickers available, but it will depend on where the roster stands with depth at other positions. Hauschka knows the nature of the beast, and says regardless of whether he's active on Sundays, he's going to go about his business the same way every day.

"I'm just doing anything I can to get ready for my next kicks," he said. "It's all going to come down to injuries. If we have enough room on the roster to have me up active for the game, I'm sure we'll do it, but if we don't, we need the other position players out there. It's always going to come down to that and I understand that comes with the territory of being a long-distance specialist."

It's been an interesting road for the rookie, who two years ago was kicking against schools like Bates and Trinity. Now he's in a Ravens jersey, working alongside one of the best kickers in NFL history, and just trying to keep thinking one day at a time.

"I never expected any of it, and I never saw any of it coming," he told me with a laugh. "My mentality the whole time is just take it one kick at a time. The only thing you have control over is your next kick. I've always had that mentality, and that's the only thing you can really focus on.

"You can't look too far ahead and you can't look at what you've [already] done either, because you'll run into some problems with that mentaility. So I think about my next kick and do what I can."