Quincy Enunwa was a tad overwhelmed.

He tried to remember what he learned in practice, what his routes were, what his assignment was.

But it wasn’t easy.

There were 85,000 people in the stands, and this wasn’t practice.

“Everything was running through my head,” the true freshman wide receiver said of his debut against Western Kentucky.

“I didn’t really focus too well.”

Mastering the mental side of the game has been a process for Enunwa, receivers coach Ted Gilmore said.

“It’s ongoing,” he said. “It’s not a part of his bloodstream yet.”

But his physical skills?

“Physically, he wasn’t intimidated,” Gilmore said.

“He was ready to compete. He wasn’t afraid to block, and he’s a very explosive young man.”

That explosiveness is a big part of why Enunwa is foregoing his redshirt season even with veterans Niles Paul, Brandon Kinnie and Mike McNeill already entrenched at wide receiver.

Gilmore said watching Enunwa’s speed on practice film helped convince him to give him an opportunity to play.

“You feel him when he’s out there, and that’s the first thing that stood out with him on tape and in practice,” Gilmore said.

“It was like, ‘Whoa, who’s this?’”

Still, the coach said Enunwa is still adjusting to the demands of the college game.

“The biggest thing with Quincy right now is understanding the pace we play at and how fast he’s got to play every single snap in practice,” Gilmore said.

Though Enunwa said the transition from high school ball in Moreno Valley, Calif., to college was initially challenging, he’s starting to settle in.

“At first it was pretty difficult, just getting used to everything,” he said, “but as soon as I started getting help and getting all the plays under me it started getting easier.”

Help hasn’t been in short supply, with a glut of upperclassmen ahead of him in the depth chart. Kinnie, a junior starter, sees a bit of himself in Enunwa and tells him his talent and quickness are unique for a freshman.

“He reminds me of me a little bit size-wise, but he plays fast,” Kinnie said.

“He really explodes, and I didn’t have that then.

“I tell him all the time, you’ve got something special because I wasn’t playing that fast last year, let alone when I was a freshman.”

Tight ends coach Ron Brown, who watched Enunwa play in high school, also sees parallels between Enunwa and another successful Husker wideout.

“He reminded me a lot of Niles Paul,” Brown said.

“He’s physically tough, catches the ball well, and he has good speed.”

Still, the first two weeks of his college career have put Enunwa largely under the radar.

He caught one pass for 10 yards against Western Kentucky and also saw some action against Idaho.

Gilmore said taking it slow is key for a young player like Enunwa.

“He’s not getting a ton of reps right now,” Gilmore said.

“I would like to think as we progress in this thing that he continues to get better and his role picks up.”

And if Enunwa can eliminate the mental distractions that hampered him against Western Kentucky, that could be sooner rather than later.

“He’s got to earn it,” Gilmore said. “It could happen this year, but he’s got to do it.”