Trenton Cannon is well aware that probably nobody on the Jets' roster had ever heard of him before the organization drafted him in the sixth round this year, with its final pick.

And he is plenty happy to surprise his higher-profile, bigger-college teammates with how he has performed in training camp so far.

Through nine practices, as the Jets approach Friday's preseason opener against the Falcons, Cannon is the leading contender to be Eli McGuire's replacement as the No. 3 running back, since McGuire has a fractured foot.

The other top contender, Thomas Rawls, has been terrible and is currently hurt. Cannon, meanwhile, has impressed with the shiftiness and speed that made him a star at Division II Virginia State.

"Yeah, I think they're surprised," Cannon told NJ Advance Media, regarding his teammates. "I think I deserve a chance to play. Hopefully, I can fill that spot. It wasn't easy getting here, but I made it. I'm trying to take advantage of this opportunity right now."

Cannon expected to have a challenging transition to the NFL, of course. But he thinks people overestimated just how difficult it might be for him.

"I knew it wasn't going to be easy," he said. "I knew it wasn't going to be that tough for me, like everybody expected, coming from Division II. There are a lot of Division I guys out here, and Division I is supposed to have the better athletes. I'm just showing them that coming from a smaller school, we can play, too, at this level. Football is football. I've been playing all my life. At any level - high school, college - my speed has been helping me the same way."

Entering training camp, Cannon's biggest potential role figured to be as a return man. He is contending with veterans Lucky Whitehead and Andre Roberts for both return jobs. Cannon returned kickoffs in college, but not punts. So he worked extensively on punt returns, back at Virginia State, during the break between minicamp and training camp.

"Every day I was catching punts from kickers back home," Cannon said. "I don't think I've dropped one the whole [training] camp."

He's right.

During spring practices, special teams coordinator Brant Boyer worked with Cannon on his punt return form. (And kickoff/punt return could still very well wind up being Cannon's main role in 2018, especially once McGuire returns.)

"I put in work the whole time," Cannon said of his spring. "If I want to do something, I'm going to do it. I made it happen, as far as getting better at catching punts."

Cannon said his biggest adjustments to punt return involved judging the ball, settling under it at the right angle, and remaining calm.

"I used to get tense, and now I'm just more relaxed," he said. "Because I've already got the [good] hands. It's just the relaxed part. It was definitely a process. At first, I just wasn't comfortable at catching [punts] because I never did it before."

Darryl Slater may be reached at dslater@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DarrylSlater. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.