Niles Paul's day ended with big gains, bigger grins and a revealing self-analysis of two frustrating years at Nebraska.

But did you see how Paul's day started?

Before each game, before heading to the locker room for last-minute pep talks, Nebraska punter Alex Henery boots a high spiral toward the north goal line. More than 100 adrenaline-laced Huskers converge on the landing point, where Niles Paul catches the ball and starts a massive mosh pit.

This time, Paul dropped the punt.

“Coach (Ron) Brown gave me the look and I was like, ‘Uh oh,'” Paul said. “I've never dropped it before.”

Then, late in the first quarter, after Zac Lee had thrown to four receivers other than Niles Paul, he hit Mike McNeill in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown.

You know who else was wiiiiide open?

The nephew of Ahman Green, the high school All-American, the best football prospect to walk the halls of Omaha North High in decades.

The No. 1 wideout of the 2009 Huskers — coach- appointed. The physical freak, who at that point in the first half owned 13 receiving yards this season and zero career touchdown catches.

Paul jogged to the sideline, sat on the bench and threw his towel at his feet.

Receivers coach Ted Gilmore approached him.

“I straightened up,” Paul said. “I got it together. I don't want him to see me mad.”

Gilmore must have sensed Paul's mood. Be patient, he said. Your time will come.

Then it did.

On the next three drives, coaches called Paul's number seven times. For the day, the junior hauled in six passes, including his first career touchdown reception, and took a reverse pitch 30 yards for his first career rushing touchdown. He also had a 70-yard TD reception nullified by penalty.

Career turning point? Better believe it.

Five quarters into his third season in Lincoln, there were reasons aplenty to wonder if Paul was another Bill Callahan recruiting bust, a plastic-wrapped product of the Husker hype machine.

Paul knew it. He, too, has questioned how he acquired celebrity. In the process, he has re-examined what it takes to be the player everyone expected.

“My freshman year, I came in here with a big head. I can say it now. I look back and I'm like, ‘Wow, I was that guy.' I was like, ‘I'm better than all these guys.' Not realizing that there were some great wide receivers here ...

“I remember my first day (at Nebraska), all the receivers were looking at me. I had said some comments to (The World-Herald) about coming in and playing (right away).

“That wasn't the thing to do. I should've been humble. I wasn't humble at all.”

Paul has always known he could make big plays. That first year, he didn't know why coaches wouldn't let him. He caught one pass for 6 yards — and he burned his redshirt season.

“I was mad at times. I found myself in my dorm room thinking a lot, being frustrated. I felt like I should've played.”

Things didn't get much better in the passing game for Paul in his sophomore season; he caught only 23 balls.

But he started realizing that the guys who had taken his playing time — Mo Purify, Terrence Nunn, Nate Swift and Todd Peterson — were better than he was. It was on him to learn, to get better.

So he studied the guy who didn't have all the talent but knew how to play: Peterson.

“I find myself in the game sometimes thinking, ‘What would Todd do in this situation?' If I had to pick a role model since I've been here, it would be Todd.”

“He talked to me a lot. When I was down, he came over and calmed me down.”

But pressure to perform, to be Niles Paul, didn't go away.

In the last several months, Paul said, he realized he hadn't done anything to warrant his accolades.

Four-star recruit? Army All-American? “That stuff doesn't matter. That's high school. Most of that was politics. I don't think it's possible you can evaluate every player in the nation.

“Like Dez Bryant. He wasn't an Army All-American, but you can clearly see he's one of the best wide receivers in the nation.”

In April, police arrested Paul on suspicion of driving under the influence. The charge was dropped, but the incident stained his reputation.

“I'm in college. I was living it up. Being a Husker football player. Having fun. Doing things I shouldn't have. I haven't drank since then. Haven't done anything.

“If I'm in a situation where there's alcohol, I will leave, because I felt like I let a lot of people down in Nebraska.

“My dad called me. He was really disappointed in me. My dad's pretty much all I've got. My mom died when I was little. When I feel like I disappointed him, that's when I know I did wrong. It takes a lot to disappoint my dad.”

In the season opener, Paul caught just two passes, but his dad praised him for his “incredible blocks.”

There's more to praise this week. Like the touchdown run, when Niles danced down the sideline.

Funny thing, that play had been in the offensive script game after game going back to last season. But coaches never called it.

When Paul noticed the play again this week, he “blew it off,” figured it would get lost in a stack of X's and O's like all the times before.

Then, on first-and-5 from the Arkansas State 30, the first play of the rest of Paul's career, his quarterback stepped into the huddle and spoke the words his No. 1 receiver had seen on paper.

“We finally ran it.”

Contact the writer:

679-9899, dirk.chatelain@owh.com