In preparing for his first collegiate start, Mario Goins didn't know what to expect beyond what people were telling him about game speed. He just assumed that he would have to experience it on his own. "I knew it was going to be more than I anticipated," he said, sighing.

From that standpoint, the University of Wisconsin cornerback understood the challenge when he took the field last Saturday against Akron. "But it's so much different when you're out there playing," he said. "At some points, I was just overwhelmed with what was going on."

That was the case even though he felt like he was prepared for everything he was seeing. He had more trouble adjusting to everything he was feeling. "I tried my hardest to calm down," Goins said. "But it was really exciting being out there, and I couldn't find my comfort zone."

At least not right away, largely because he was trying too hard and thinking too much. "I was too worried about making mistakes," he said. "I kept thinking about the things I wasn't suppose to do, and it was killing me."

On one specific play, Goins got away from his techniques. "I wasn't reading my keys," he conceded. "So, when the receiver acted like he was going to block me, I had my eyes in the backfield, and he ran right past me."

He caught a break, though, when Akron quarterback Chris Jacquemain misfired and couldn't get the ball to his open receiver. "That first game experience," Goins pointed out, "brought back the meaning and the importance of always practicing hard."

It also reinforced what he knew about the risk in taking things for granted. Especially at cornerback, where a mistake can add up to a big play or a touchdown.

Among his role models and teachers has been Chicago Bears corner Charles "Peanut" Tillman, one of the more prominent alums from Goins' high school in Copperas Cove, Texas.

"When he was working out at our high school, I'd follow what he was doing and he'd help with some of my techniques," Goins said. "But he couldn't do too much for me because he's at such a higher level than I am."

Goins still appreciated Tillman's instruction -- almost as much as he appreciates getting through a day or a week or a month without migraines.

"I've had them my whole life, and I take medication," he said. "When I was back home in Texas, they had stopped. But since moving up here, they started coming back again. I've had them twice.

"Ever had a migraine? I get blind spots in my eyes, and I can't see clearly. That's when the pounding starts. Thinking about migraines leaves me speechless.

"But I've got the right medicine, and I have to continue to eat right and be careful with them."

Just as he will be careful Saturday making his reads against Marshall. "After that first game," Goins said, "I feel more comfortable going into the next one. But they have great athletes, and I respect them to the fullest."