HARRISONBURG — Rashard Davis isn’t done just yet.

The James Madison senior was named Colonial Athletic Association Special Teams Player of the Year on Tuesday.

He was the only player in the country to register three punt return touchdowns this year. He had a 76-yard score in the season opener against Morehead State, a 75-yard touchdown the following week against Central Connecticut State and closed with a 76-yard sprint into the end zone during the regular-season finale win over Elon.

The Charlottesville native said for JMU to succeed in the FCS Playoffs, his punt-return team must continue to impact games.

At 5-foot-9, 175 pounds, the elusive speedster views his unit as the potential difference maker as the level of competition increases.

“I feel like it’s a big deal and really could enhance your team in the playoffs,” Davis said. “There are a lot of good offenses and good defenses, but in those tight games, where there’s stalemating going on or a shootout or maybe a tight defensive game, special teams is really the key part. It would and it could separate you from the other team that doesn’t have the good special-teams units.”

Davis’ 31.8 yards per return average led the nation.

JMU hosts the winner of Lehigh and New Hampshire in a second-round game next week.

The two teams rank on the opposite ends of the spectrum for punt return defense. Lehigh was in the bottom 10 nationally, giving up more than 15 yards per punt return while New Hampshire was in the top 10 nationally, yielding just 2.3 yards per return.

First-year JMU coach Mike Houston echoed Davis.

“You’re going to have different opponents all throughout the playoffs,” Houston said. “And our team, it’s a very tight-knit group that understands they have to have all three phases contributing heavily.”

Houston said Davis’ presence alone alters what opposing coaching staffs do with their punt teams.

“He changed the Richmond game and never touched the ball in the punt-return game,” Houston said. “They tried so hard to kick it away from him. He’s a game changer back there.”

In JMU’s 47-43 win at Richmond, the Spiders punted twice.

While trying to intentionally kick the ball away from Davis, the first punt traveled only 9 yards, giving the Dukes great starting field position at the Richmond 20-yard line. Two plays later, running back Khalid Abdullah scored to give JMU a third-quarter lead.

“I’d see when a punter would shank the ball out of bounds and I’d think to myself, ‘that’s not normal,’” Davis said. “You kind of think that if it wasn’t for us, both me and [junior] John Miller back there and our teammates blocking, those punters would try to boot the ball as far as they could down the field.

“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing to help the offense get good field position in playoffs.”

Davis said the punt return team initially started believing it could score consistently back in August when special team coordinator John Bowers and corners coach Tripp Weaver, who heads the punt return team, installed the scheme.

“Coach Weaver told us in the beginning of the year that we would get a lot of opportunities,” Davis said. “And that first game we saw that the punt return team could be dangerous. It just kept going and kept going, week by week. We saw we could make plays.”

As for the award, Davis deflected praise, but said “it means a lot.”

“It’s a big award,” he said. “But I really got to give all the credit to my teammates. They block the big guys. They disrupt the shield or try to get the punter knocked off his game. I just catch the ball and try to find Jimmy Moreland.”

Moreland was the lead blocker on all three of Davis’ touchdowns.