John Elway III is carrying on the family trade in Colo.

Jack Elway is 3-3 in his debut season as Cherry Creek's starting QB.

John Albert Elway III has lived his entire 17 years in the gigantic shadow cast by his Hall of Fame father, retired Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway.

But Jack, as he is called, has never been given anything because of his pedigree, which includes a grandfather who was a successful college football coach and a mother, Janet, who was a collegiate swimmer at Stanford. Instead, he has paid his dues at every level of football before advancing to a starting quarterback position this fall as a junior at Cherry Creek (Englewood, Colo.) High.

He was introduced to football at a young age, playing Pop Warner ball as a second grader, but it didn't come easy.

"It was kind of hard at first," Jack said. "I didn't really always understand how the whole offense worked. It [football] really wasn't that big of a deal at that point."

His mother remembers those early years, saying, "He was not that interested in football and, in fact, would become very nervous while I was driving him to games. He would count the stoplights and could hardly wait to get home to his video games. Today he adores the game."

During his freshman season at Cherry Creek, Jack shared quarterback duties and started at linebacker for the freshman team. His sophomore year he moved to the junior varsity, where he continued to learn the system as a starting quarterback.

As this year started, Jack had to battle a transfer for the starting quarterback position on the varsity squad. Coach Greg Critchett said they went down to the final pre-season jamboree before Jack earned the starting nod.

The words pressure and steady improvement help to describe Jack's budding career. First the pressure. What more needs to be said than someone named Elway living in a Denver suburb? As a youngster, Jack always wore his dad's famous No. 7 uniform. However, as he reached varsity status, he hesitated. "It was kind of a big thing for me to be labeled," he said. "I could have been my own person. But I'd been No. 7 my whole life and decided to keep it."

Critchett says his young signal caller has "handled it really well. Things don't quite faze him. I think there is pressure there. We've tried to keep him away from some of that stuff. It's tough, because there was a lot of hype even before he won the starting job."