Malik Willis thought he had it, the most picture perfect start to his college career.

The Auburn freshman quarterback made his debut late in the third quarter of Auburn's 51-14 dismantling of Missouri on Saturday night, and on his first collegiate snap, Willis thought he was going to score. He faked the handoff in the backfield to Malik Miller, pulled the ball on a zone-read and took off down the left sideline before he was pulled out of bounds by his facemask by Missouri defensive back DeMarkus Acy -- a yank that resulted in Willis' helmet being ripped off.

Willis popped up on the sideline and flashed a wide grin as he reached to retrieve his helmet. Twelve-yard gain. Fifteen-yard penalty tacked on at the end.

"I don't think there's anything that could've happened, positively or negatively, on that first play where he wouldn't have just been thrilled to be out there," Sean McEvoy, Willis' private quarterback coach, told AL.com. "That's his mentality. He thought he had a shot to break it down the sideline. He kind of felt like that guy ripping the helmet for his facemask was the only chance to get him down, so he gets up thinking, 'man, I almost had it. That was my one; let me come back and get another one.'"

Willis didn't get another one, and the true freshman finished the game with a modest line in a little more than a quarter of play in his Auburn debut. He was 3-for-4 passing for 1 yard -- though he had a 38-yard touchdown called back -- and added seven rushes for 11 yards while guiding Auburn on one field goal-scoring drive in three possessions of work.

"I thought he went in and did his job executing the offense pretty well," Auburn starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham said. "Obviously they ran a little bit more read-option for him because he's a lot faster than me, but he did great. I was super happy for him."

While Willis wasn't asked to do much, especially with the outcome well in hand, the former three-star recruit flashed some of the potential that had Malzahn, offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey and teammates raving about him since the spring.

There was that 12-yard run on his first snap, of course. One play later, he pulled the ball again on a zone-read and took off to his right, where he shook Missouri defensive back Anthony Sherrils with a cutback move before dancing around behind the line of scrimmage and being taken down by Sherrils for a 3-yard loss to end the third quarter.

Willis nearly opened the fourth quarter with some fireworks. On his third snap, Willis again pulled the ball on the fake to Miller, rolled to his right and released a pass to a wide-open Griffin King, who ran down the sideline, shed a couple of would-be tacklers and dove for the end-zone pylon.

It was a 38-yard touchdown, though only momentarily, as officials called it back due to a holding penalty against wide receiver Noah Igbinoghene.

"The one that got called back, that's what you want," said McEvoy, who traveled to Missouri for the game. "When you think about RPO, that's what you envision -- forcing the defense to not only play the running back, but also the quarterback and then the ability to pull up and make the throw downfield when you got the defense sucked in.

"That's textbook RPO-type offense. It was cool, even though the penalty brought it back, it was cool to see it happen."

Willis only took 19 official snaps, and while he had limited opportunities, he told McEvoy afterward that he thought he did well in his first playing opportunity.

It was an anticipated debut for the true freshman, who has not been made available to the media since enrolling in January, especially after he was elevated to the backup quarterback last week in the wake of Sean White's dismissal. It was also the culmination of nine-plus months of preparation for the Atlanta native.

"Right away he just found a comfort with Coach Lindsey in that offense," McEvoy said. "I know the biggest thing that I think he picked up from Coach Lindsey was just how to prepare throughout the week to be ready on Saturday to play the game. With talking to Malik, that was something Coach Lindsey continued to talk to him about. This was the first week of spring, basically prepare if you're the starting quarterback from this point forward."

That meant additional time in the film room, working with graduate assistants as much as possible and just maximizing everything he could use to his advantage throughout the offseason to better prepare himself for the level of play required to be an SEC quarterback.

McEvoy said that Willis was fortunate, in a way, that White was still recovering from forearm surgery in the spring because it afforded the true freshman an opportunity to get a lot of second-team reps. That continued in the fall after Woody Barrett transferred over the summer, and White's two-game suspension to start the season gave Willis an opportunity to mix in with the first-team offense as well -- even though Malzahn wanted to try to preserve a redshirt for Willis.

Once White was dismissed last week following an arrest for public intoxication, Willis became Auburn's full-time backup and the possibility of a redshirt season was all but gone. Malzahn was coy last week about whether Willis would see the field against Missouri, but Auburn's coaches got the freshman on the field at the first opportunity Saturday night to ease him into things.

"Malik, it was good to get him some experience," Malzahn said. "There's nothing like some experience. Obviously, he'll play from here on out, and he'll get nothing but better."

While Malzahn was pleased with Willis' debut, and Stidham expressed confidence in the freshman's ability to run the full offense and step in whenever called upon -- adding that Willis will have a "bright future" at Auburn -- it's important to note that the 6-foot-1, 202-pounder is still relatively new to the position.

Willis only began playing quarterback during his junior season at Roswell High, and he's still working on polishing his skillset at the position.

He has worked with McEvoy, who is certified through the National Football Academies and works at Premier Quarterback Training, since last August. The two spent time together in February and again this summer when Willis was home in Atlanta to work on improving Willis' mechanics and developing consistency in his throwing motion.

While that has helped, so too has the development under Lindsey, who has earned a reputation during his coaching career as somewhat of a quarterback whisperer. The biggest difference McEvoy has seen from Willis since his enrollment in January was something Lindsey alluded to last month, when the first-year offensive coordinator said the freshman made a "really big jump" from a mental standpoint and understanding of the offense.

That all showed when Willis' number was finally called.

"He felt ready, like he was ready to play on that field at that level," McEvoy said. "I just think each time he gets to play going forward, you're going to see more and more confidence out of him. You want Jarrett to continue to play the way he's playing, and that makes them successful, but if there's an opportunity and you need Malik to get in there and win a game for you, literally every single snap he gets will make him that much more prepared.

"There's no magic number here, like if he can get 200 snaps is going to be better than 198 snaps... (but how he did) didn't surprise me, one, knowing Malik and his character and what he's able to do, but knowing how well they've prepared him. I didn't envision anything else happening but him getting on the field and looking comfortable running that offense."

Tom Green is the Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.