GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The coaches at Saginaw Valley State put Jeff Janis on kickoff returns for a few games during his senior season, but it never amounted to much.

After a few games, they ditched the experiment.

“Teams weren’t kicking to me,” Janis said. “So they were like, ‘This is pointless.’”

Now we know why.

In two games as the Green Bay Packers’ primary kickoff return man, the second-year receiver moved the Packers from 10th to fifth in the NFL in average yards per kickoff return (26.4).

Thrown into the job Nov. 22 against the Minnesota Vikings because receivers Jared Abbrederis and Ty Montgomery were inactive and defensive back Micah Hyde left with a hip injury, Janis showed off his 4.42-second 40-yard dash speed that still hasn’t earned the fan favorite much playing time as a receiver. On the first kickoff return of his career, with a full head of steam, he burst through a hole and bounced it toward the right sideline for a 70-yard return.

On Thursday against the Chicago Bears, he proved it was no fluke with a 64-yarder. Although he has only four returns, his average of 41.3 yards would lead the NFL.

It was enough for coach Mike McCarthy to declare that the job belongs to Janis, at least heading into Thursday’s game at the Detroit Lions.

McCarthy and former special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum liked to use running backs on kickoff returns because of their ability to find holes. With No. 3 halfback DuJuan Harris as their primary kickoff returner last season, the Packers finished 31st in the NFL with a 19.1-yard average.

Janis, a seventh-round draft pick in 2014, first showed what he could during his rookie preseason, when he had a 62-yard kickoff return in the preseason finale.

“You’ve got to hit it with speed,” Janis said when asked about his approach to returning kickoffs. “That’s the biggest thing. As soon as you slow down, that’s when guys come and tackle you, so I think that’s the biggest thing is just getting the ball going because if you don’t some guy’s going to come in from the side and tackle you. So I’d say speed first and reading blocks.”

Still, he never got his chance until last Sunday.

“I think if you had your druthers, if you were going to draw one up, you’d probably have a running back be the guy,” first-year special teams coordinator Ron Zook said. “But Jeff, he ran through a couple of couple of tackles in this last one. He’s a strong guy. He’s an athletic guy. He’s one of those guys in the weight room that’s probably a lot stronger than you might think in terms of explosion.

“He’s done a nice job. That’s what you want to see guys do.”

While fans have pined for Janis to get more of a chance on offense -- he has only two catches for 79 yards on the season but also drew a 50-yard pass interference penalty on the Vikings when he ran by cornerback Terence Newman -- they might have to be content to watch Janis use his speed on special teams, at least until he proves in practice that he can catch the ball consistently and be where quarterback Aaron Rodgers expects.

Slocum used to call the kickoff return the first play on offense, which is how Janis said he’s looking at his role.

“You’re setting the offense up with good field position,” Janis said. “Even when I come off the field after a big return like that and Aaron slaps you on the head, it feels good.”