A mong the differences between Garrett Gilbert and his younger brother Griffin is this:

"Garrett was always real cautious, and still is," says their mother, Kim. "Even now, Griffin will say, 'Yeah, I'll go parasailing.' Garrett will say, 'Uh, no, I don't think so.'"

Big brother doesn't deny the particular contrast between himself and Griffin, a junior wide receiver for Lake Travis High School.

"I'm not," Garrett says, "a big risk-taker."

So how does Garrett Gilbert propose to deal with the dizzying heights he'll be sailing over this fall as the University of Texas' starting quarterback? Outwardly, there would seem to be few bigger risks for a young college football player.

"This is one I feel comfortable with," he explained.

He was born in Buffalo and was raised in San Diego until he moved to Austin when he was 5 years old, yet Gilbert seems to have been almost destined for the pressure-cooker job now entrusted to him by coach Mack Brown.

Gilbert, Texas' first five-star quarterback recruit since Vince Young, makes his debut as the fifth-ranked Longhorns' starter on Saturday against Rice, in Houston's Reliant Stadium. He replaces Colt McCoy, college football's winningest quarterback ever. McCoy replaced Young, who delivered Texas its last national championship.

"It's such a blessing and an honor to even be able to be in the same position here," Gilbert said. "You go over to the hallway (in the football complex) and see the pictures of all those great players. You can't help but notice."

Growing with the game

Gilbert, 19, was only 7 when he "started becoming obsessed with Texas football," said his mother. He would throw the ball to himself in the family living room, making diving catches on the couch. And he always envisioned himself as the quarterback — understandable, since his father, Gale, was an NFL quarterback from 1985 to 1995.

"He's played the game enough, grown up with it," said Gale Gilbert, who played in five straight Super Bowls with the Bills and Chargers, and now is a wholesale gas distributor in Austin. "He's been to every UT camp, (he) knows the coaches. The game is the game. That doesn't change."

Gilbert's love of the Longhorns was solidified at a young age after he met Cade McCrary, who would become one of his best friends. McCrary — who played receiver on Lake Travis' two state championship teams quarterbacked by Gilbert, and is now a walk-on receiver at Texas — is the son of Hardee McCrary, a Longhorns assistant coach from 1998 to 2003.

"Garrett was so excited when he met Cade and found out his dad was one of the UT coaches," Kim Gilbert said. "He was much more impressed with that than the fact his own dad played in the NFL."

Gilbert, in fact, was so impressed with McCrary's father's job that he momentarily disrupted his second-grade math class after making the discovery.

"I raised my hand and told the teacher what Cade's dad did," Gilbert said. "I thought it was the coolest thing ever."

So Gilbert grew up wanting to be the Texas quarterback. Great. That puts him in a group of, what, thousands?

But as the years passed and the bloodlines kicked in — Gilbert finished his high school tenure at Lake Travis as the state's all-time leader in passing yards (12,534) and No. 2 in career touchdown passes — it was readily apparent that the 6-foot-4-inch, 215-pounder with a cannon for a right arm possessed all the physical requirements.

Those were on display this spring and in fall camp. In the spring game, Gilbert completed 10 of 13 passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns, showing both touch and the ability to connect on the long ball.

So the only remaining question — still not fully answered — is whether Gilbert has the mental and intestinal fortitude required for his dream job.

Gilbert's trial by fire

He displayed some of that in the second half of the BCS championship game against Alabama.

Thrust in early after Colt McCoy was injured, and after a predictably horrendous first half, Gilbert regrouped and nearly rallied the Longhorns to a national title in the second half, with a poised performance against one of college football's toughest defenses.

"When he first got in the huddle after Colt was hurt, he was kind of glassy-eyed," senior receiver James Kirkendoll recalled. "But he stepped up and played a lot better than what people probably thought he was going to play."

In that first half, Gilbert completed only one of his 10 passes for minus-4 yards, and two of his passes were intercepted. "We could see his frustration and anguish," said Kim Gilbert, who was sitting four rows up behind the Texas bench.

Gilbert turned it around in the second half, throwing 18 completions for 182 yards — and a pair of touchdowns to Jordan Shipley that brought Texas within three points of Alabama, deep into the fourth quarter.

That was but one barometric snapshot, though. Before the Alabama game, Gilbert had attempted only 26 passes — completing 15 — in nine mop-up appearances.

How will Gilbert react over the long haul of a season? Is the sophomore with the aw-shucks personality equipped to handle the laser-like intensity that burns hotter on that position, and at this school, than almost anywhere else in the country?

It's no place for the faint of heart.

"Holy moly," said Hardee McCrary, of the burnt-orange spotlight that's placed on the quarterback position in particular and Longhorns football in general. "It's such a grand stage. Dealing with the things around you and all the expectations are probably 75 percent of the job.

"I'm not sure it's not harder playing quarterback here than it is for the Dallas Cowboys. I know they're America's team, but in this state …"

McCrary, now the associate director of development for the Longhorn Foundation, didn't complete the thought. But his meaning was obvious: If you're going to play quarterback for Texas, you'd better have an alligator's hide and an assassin's ruthlessness.

Are those traits innate to Gilbert, who will never use two words when one will suffice, and whose defensive teammates tried to provoke him during 7-on-7 drills this summer to be more vocal, more of a leader?

"It's a little bit forced, but it's becoming more and more comfortable," Gilbert said of the take-command, vocal aspect of the job.

Cade McCrary acknowledges that Gilbert "isn't much of a vocal leader," but stresses that he's a leader nonetheless.

"When we had some tough times in high school, he was the first person to take control," McCrary said. "I don't think he'll have a problem handling adversity."

McCrary recalled when Lake Travis trailed Cibolo Steele at the half of a second-round playoff game in 2008.

"He (Gilbert) came in and said we weren't going to lose this game," McCrary said. "He's a great leader."

Lake Travis rallied for a 38-21 victory.

Ready for the spotlight

Brown, who has much riding on Gilbert , believes the mild-mannered teenager will handle the glare just fine.

Kim Gilbert will testify that Brown and offensive coordinator Greg Davis, who also coaches the quarterbacks, did their due diligence on this particular topic during Gilbert's recruitment.

"Garrett's been warned," she said. "Coach Davis and coach Brown would say, 'OK, you realize this is a very different situation. We have no pro team and you are it. Are you ready to deal with that?' There was a lot of preparation in laying the groundwork for that."

Brown believes Gilbert, his easygoing personality aside, will thrive for many reasons. For starters, he's got the résumé, with the two titles at Lake Travis and a host of state passing records.

He's also got the bloodlines because of his father, whose former occupation exposed Garrett to many well-known people — although, alas, never to his hero, John Elway.

"I think it helps Garrett that his dad played in the NFL," Brown said. "So not much impresses him. That's kind of his personality."

And, perhaps most important, Gilbert has been preparing for this moment for more than half his life.

"He expected to be here," Brown said. "So he's not going to get arrogant and he's not going to let it get too big for him because this is what he's planned on doing for a long time."

Brown often uses one word to describe Gilbert: tough.

Indeed, while Gilbert might look like Opie Taylor, he approaches football with the ferocity of a Lawrence Taylor.

Hardee McCrary remembers once in Gilbert's senior season at Lake Travis, after he threw a rare interception.

"Garrett knocked him four lanes into the track," McCrary said of the defensive back. "It was the biggest hit of the year."

"That was against Cedar Park," Gilbert recalled with a sheepish chuckle. "I didn't make a very good pass, so I wasn't very happy about that one."

Passing of the torch

Nationally, Texas isn't necessarily renowned as Quarterback U. But the Longhorns have an impressive recent history at the position. The footsteps Gilbert are following add to the glare in which he now finds himself.

For Gilbert, it began with Major Applewhite, his childhood hero and now the Longhorns' running backs coach. Chris Simms is playing in the NFL, as are Young and McCoy.

Young led Texas to the 2005 national championship. McCoy? He won 45 games as a starting quarterback — the most in NCAA history — and set 47 school records. They both won the Maxwell Award as the nation's best player.

Your turn, Mr. Gilbert.

Gale Gilbert, a California schoolboy star who played at Cal before entering the NFL, matter-of-factly says his oldest son's fish-bowl existence "is inevitable. It's the game."

But Kim Gilbert just hopes she's as ready for it as Garrett appears to be. With her son leading Lake Travis to 30 straight victories and two Class 4A titles, times were almost always good.

She'd like for it to be the same at Texas. But she's realistic. So is Gale Gilbert.

"At this level, I'll just have to get thick skin," Kim Gilbert said.

"I've heard it all. I expect it," Gale Gilbert, said. "You can complete 19 passes in a row, and if the 20th is a dying duck in the dirt, they're going to say, 'He's a bum.'"

So how will their son handle the trials that almost assuredly will come?

"It'll be interesting, because he's had a lot of success," Kim said.

"He hasn't had to face much adversity yet," Gale agreed. "The little bit he had in high school will be magnified 100 times in college."

So how will their son handle it? That remains the one significant unanswered question about Garrett Gilbert. But those who know him are convinced the quarterback — self-described as "not a big risk-taker" — is ready and prepared to go parasailing.

"I think he has it," said Longhorns wide receiver John Chiles. "He comes from a football background. He has it in his genes. Doing it from a little kid on kind of prepares you and gets you ready for this stage of life.

"Yeah, he's got a baby face," Chiles said. "But Colt had one, too."