GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Bhawoh Jue inherited his parents’ perseverance.

They fled war-ravaged Liberia for a better life when he was a baby, and although he was too young to remember the upheaval, Jue has demonstrated similar fortitude on the football field. He’s fulfilling the American dream beyond what his mother and father ever envisioned when they moved from Monrovia.

Jue, finally healthy and no longer playing out of position, has filled in admirably for injured safety Darren Sharper over the last month while the Green Bay Packers (6-4) extended their winning streak to five heading into Monday night’s game against the St. Louis Rams (5-5).

The Packers drafted Jue in the third round out of Penn State in 2001, and he started the last half of his rookie season after strong safety LeRoy Butler’s career-ending shoulder injury.

Jue’s career quickly went into a tailspin, however.

Bothered by leg, hernia and chronic groin injuries in 2002, he went on season-ending injured reserve just five weeks into the season. His comeback campaign was a disaster. He gave up game-winning touchdown throws at home against Philadelphia and Kansas City as a fill-in cornerback and then was demoted from the dime defense altogether.

Jue switched to safety last summer and has played so well the Packers didn’t have to rush Sharper back from his painful knee injury.

“He seems to have embraced that position and is playing with confidence,” coach Mike Sherman said. “He believes in what he’s doing right now. He’s not looking over his shoulder for a coach to yell at him or worrying about an injury happening.”

Jue seemed like the odd man out when the Packers drafted Ahmad Carroll and Joey Thomas and signed safety Mark Roman in the offseason to compete with holdover Marques Anderson.

By mid-August, Jue had beaten out Anderson, who was traded to Oakland.

“The bottom line is, dawg, I know I can play football,” said Jue, who credited his health and determination for his turnaround. “No. 1, it’s a matter of ditching all those injuries I was going through. That’s probably the biggest thing. When you’re 100 percent and you don’t have a hernia, you don’t have a bone spur in your ankle, you just go out there and play football, not worrying about anything.”

But remembering it all.

“It’s what you’ve been through that makes you the man that you are,” he said. “Having three surgeries, having the media blaming the Kansas City and Philly games on me last year, that was a lot. Losing my position in the dime last year. Put all that together and it makes you into a better person.”

Sherman said he admires Jue for overcoming injuries, position changes and the wrath of fans and coaches alike, emerging without his spirit shaken.

Jue shrugged.

“It’s not been a terribly difficult road to get here,” he said. “I’ve been through enough things that that was nothing. Just growing up, coming from a whole different country and having your family involved in a civil war, there are things you brush off. I played a whole season and a half with a hernia. This is a piece of cake right now.”

And what timing. Jue is heading into unrestricted free agency in the offseason.

“The one thing I have on my side is a whole lot of upside,” Jue said. “Even if you’ve only seen me play these last four games … you know I just moved to safety. And if I’m playing as well as I am, there’s no telling what I might do with 10, 11, 12 games under my belt.”

AP-ES-11-29-04 1449EST