each. The following year, Rucker again won Defensive Player of the Month for September, becoming only the 11th player in history to win POTM honors for the same month in two consecutive years; former Panther Sam Mills won POTM in November 1995 and 1996. Rucker finished the season with 12 sacks, and earned his first berth in the Pro Bowl. On December 17, 2006, in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rucker suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in his left knee, causing him to miss the remainder of the 2006 season. He returned for his final season in 2007, before announcing his retirement from the game on April 22, 2008. NFL statistics Other activities Rucker, along with former teammates Mike Minter, Stephen Davis, and Muhsin Muhammad, are co-founders of Ruckus House, a child development and learning facility. One of Rucker's long-term goals for Ruckus House is to get one in every city which has an NFL team. In 2005 Mike founded Vision Group Realty, a full service real estate brokerage firm, providing brokerage services to both buyers and sellers of residential and commercial real estate. The firm headquarters is located in Charlotte, NC, and services relocating clients locally, nationally and globally. In the 2008 offseason, he traveled to Afghanistan to visit with troops along with Luis Castillo, Tommie Harris, and Sports Illustrated writer Peter King. Rucker made a video documentary of his experiences for NFL Network, stating that if he was not a pro football athlete, he could easily envision himself in the military. Mike Rucker is a commentator on preseason games for the Carolina Panthers on the Panthers Television Network. Family Rucker's younger brother, Martin was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2008 NFL Draft, 111th overall. References External links Carolina Panthers team bio Ruckus House website 1975 births Living people Sportspeople from St. Joseph, Missouri African-American players of American football American football defensive ends Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Carolina Panthers players National Conference Pro Bowl players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople Ed Block Courage Award recipients