HARRISONBURG — The last time James Madison’s Rashard Davis had to try out for anything, it worked out well.

“This past camp,” Davis said. “We had the new coaching staff, so coach [Mike] Houston made us all try out for the punt return position.”

Davis won the job and helped JMU win its second national championship by evading would-be tacklers week after week on special teams.

He returned 15 punts for 426 yards and four touchdowns, in a season when he led all of college football in punt-return scores, and was named Colonial Athletic Association Special Teams Player of the Year and a first-team All-American by STATS FCS and HERO Sports.

The Charlottesville native is now hoping his next tryout will go as smoothly as the last.

Davis went unselected over the weekend during the 2017 NFL Draft, but said he’s been invited to try out with the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears for their respective punt return jobs.

Jets minicamp is this weekend. Bears minicamp is the following.

“The Bears and the Jets were both showing a lot of interest before the draft,” Davis said. “And [Friday], the Bears reached out to me again and let me know that they had a late-round pick, so I thought they were going to draft me, and then they ended up not drafting me. Then they said they’d pick me up as a free agent.

“That ended up not happening either and I hadn’t heard anything from the Jets in a couple of days, so then the Bears said, ‘We’ll bring you into camp and have a tryout with you,’ but then the Jets called [Sunday] morning and asked if I had any workouts. I told them about the Bears and they said, ‘Ours is this weekend, would you like to come?’”

At that point, Davis said he and his agent talked before agreeing that it would be best for Davis to pursue both opportunities.

Davis has two chances to make an NFL roster.

“I’ve been catching punts on a daily basis,” Davis said. “You can’t go into a camp rusty. They’ll be able to tell if you haven’t been working.”

He said his approach is simple: catch punts in the tryouts like he caught punts throughout the 2016 season. The end game is the end zone.

He had a 76-yard score against Morehead State, a 75-yard score against Central Connecticut State, a 76-yard score against Elon and a 72-yard score against Sam Houston State in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.

“You have to,” Davis said. “You have to show your speed and explosiveness. It’s how you can open up lanes.

“They need to know what you know about yourself. You have to show them.”

Davis said he’s already spoken with former JMU offensive lineman Mitchell Kirsch, who signed as an undrafted free agent with the Bears on Saturday, and ex-Dukes receiver Daniel Brown, who’s on Chicago’s roster.

“They both were excited,” Davis said. “It’d be cool to step up next to your former teammates again, but that’s only if the Jets don’t work out.”

Throughout the pre-draft process, Houston said Davis’ stock elevated more than any other player on his team. Davis’ 4.38 40-yard dash at JMU’s pro day on March 15 helped gain even more interest in the speedster.

Davis said he talked with 10-12 NFL teams, and had a workout with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in the weeks leading up to the draft.

He said his agent heard from multiple teams as the seven-round spectacle was ongoing.

“The Bears and the Jets told me on the phone that I’ll have an opportunity to come in and start as a punt returner,” Davis said. “Other teams like the [Arizona] Cardinals and the [Pittsburgh] Steelers were saying they wanted me to come in, fight and push to be their guy.”

But the first task for Davis is to earn a spot with the Jets. If he can do that, he won’t attend the Bears minicamp.

New York’s AFC team brings back Jalin Marshall, who had 18 punt returns for 100 yards in 2016, but Marshall is suspended for the first four games of the 2017 season due to a violation of the NFL’s policy on performance enhancing drugs.

“Andy Davis is a pro scout and also works with special teams, so he contacted me,” Davis said. “He said the Jets were excited to get me up there and had some encouraging words for me going into rookie minicamp, considering I’m not signed yet.”