Associated Press

Former Cave Spring and Virginia long snapper Danny Aiken will snap for the Patriots in the Super Bowl today.

Associated Press

Maybe Danny Aiken should drop the Buffalo Bills a thank-you note.

Waived by the Bills during the preseason, Aiken made his debut for the New England Patriots on Monday night football and tonight will take the field for the Super Bowl at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Aiken, a strong-armed quarterback for Cave Spring High School in Roanoke County, has lived a charmed life since going off to Fork Union Military Academy with no promise of a college career.

Then-Virginia assistant Mike London took note of Aiken's long-snapping ability during a combine at Fork Union, and the Cavaliers gave Aiken his only scholarship offer in the winter of 2007.

Over the next four years, he snapped for every field goal and extra point attempted by the Cavaliers, save one at the end of a game his freshman year against Duke.

"I've been blessed," Aiken said via telephone from Indianapolis.

Charmed? Blessed? Take your pick. It's been a wonderful experience for his family as well.

Parents Doug and Vicki Aiken drove to New England this week, where they joined the families of other Patriots' players for a charter flight to Indianapolis.

"It was incredible," Vicki Aiken said. "It was six buses worth of people -- families, cheerleaders, staff. It all finally hit me when we were riding to the airport with a police escort. I got teared up a little bit."

And the Patriots picked up the tab. Does every team do that?

"I was wondering that myself," Vicki Aiken said.

The Patriot players were given two complimentary Super Bowl tickets, which Aiken reserved for his parents..

"Then, you're allowed to buy as many as 13 tickets on top of that," said Aiken, whose support group will number nine, including his younger brother, Matt, a sophomore wide receiver from the Naval Academy.

"He had to put in for what they call a 'chit,'" said Doug Aiken, noting that Midshipmen aren't allowed to leave their academy as they please. "He'll be flying out here Sunday morning."

The Aiken party will also include Aiken's girlfriend and one of his former UVa teammates, Chris Hinkebein, and his father. Hinkebein primarily served as the Cavaliers' kickoff specialist during his career, but had a 52-yard field goal in 2010, when Aiken served as his snapper.

Remarkably, Aiken will become the third Cave Spring graduate to play in a Super Bowl.

Cornerback Ronde Barber played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in their 2003 victory over Oakland in Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego. His twin, Tiki, was a running back for the New York Giants when they were beaten by Baltimore two years earlier in Tampa.

Another Cave Spring product, J.J. Redick, played for the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA finals.

Aiken came upon his snapping ability almost by accident. His father re-tells the story of then-Cave Spring coach Ben Foutz having a skills competition for his team that was part of a team "get-together," as Doug Aiken described it.

Aiken won the snapping competition and assumed those duties for his final two years at Cave Spring.

"I had nothing to do with it," Doug Aiken said, "but I remember telling him, 'This could be your ticket.' It hasn't sunk in yet. I knew he had it in him, but five years ago, if you'd said he would have been playing in the Super Bowl, I would have never thought it."

Danny Aiken played some tight end for Fork Union and even punted. The way Fork Union coach John Shuman tells the story, a college coach wanted to view one of the other punters at the combine and Aiken was hailed to come over and snap.

"That was probably lucky for us," said London, who happened to be in the vicinity. "I remember thinking, 'Man, this kid is phenomenal.'"

Matt Fortin, who this year took over for Aiken as UVa's snapper, was rated the No. 1 snapper at a long-snapping camp before he joined the Cavaliers' program as a recruited walk-on.

Aiken never went to a specialists' camp.

Still, Aiken said he mostly hangs out with the Patriots' other kicking specialists, including punter Zoltan Mesko, who marveled at Aiken's ability to join the Patriots and take over the snapping with no hitch.

Mesko is the first left-footed kicker with whom Aiken has worked, which means a slight adjustment to his delivery.

"He does a great job of getting it in my strike zone, from the knees up to the chest, and that's all we ask," Mesko told The Boston Globe.

Aiken fielded several serious questions during the frenzy at the Super Bowl media day Tuesday, but there were the usual off-the-wall queries.

"Somebody had a bunch of pictures of [quarterback] Tom Brady over the years and was asking the different players to 'name the haircut,'" Aiken said.

Meanwhile, the Aikens were soaking it all in at the families' hotel.

"The way we're treated is like gold," said mom Vicki, who went to a welcome party at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "Sometimes traveling can be a pain in the neck. But, this was just an absolute joy.

"I knew we'd have ticket privileges because Danny is a player, but we've just been overwhelmed by the Patriots' generosity."

Certainly, it's been a life-changing experience.

"Actually, I didn't know anything about football until my boys got involved," Vicki Aiken said. "Now, we fight for the remote. My husband wants to watch a movie every once in a while and like, 'No, there's a football game on.'"