Double trouble
meet the mugashe twins
6
football
Laughter filled the small room as twin brothers LaJuan and LaRon Mugashe sat at the table talking about their life as football players. LaJuan stands 6’1” 340 lbs. and LaRon is 6’2” 370 lbs. They share the same nickname, Twin, for the simple fact that during their first couple of years at Pebblebrook you could barely tell the difference between the two of them.
In the Classroom
When math teacher Heather McGuire first encountered the twins, her initial reaction was "Oh no, how am I going to know which one is which? How am I going to keep them focused and not antagonizing each other?"
She soon came to realize that the task wasn't hard at all. "They are so much alike and yet so very different," she says. "What motivates one, does not motivate the other. LaJuan is the social butterfly, always up and in everyone’s conversations, while LaRon is more laid back and watches what everyone else is doing."
“Having them both at the same time has been an interesting experience. They push me to be a better teacher. I worried about having them both, but it has been a great experience so far.” She says although there is a little healthy competition between them it’s not over the top. They help to push each other to be better students and young men. “They are both fine young men and I can’t wait to see where life takes them.”
On The Field
The Mugashe twins joined their first football team in third grade, and they have only separated once and that was during their sophomore year of high school. “Neither one of us played our freshman year because we had just moved here that summer,” says LaJuan, the older twin. “But I sat out our sophomore year so that my brother could play.” He says there was a lot going on at home and he didn’t want to see his mother struggle to pay fees for them both. “It was easier for her to just pay for one of us.” The following year, LaJuan re-joined his brother again on the field. Now, they are both starting seniors on the Falcon football team, LaJuan on Offense and LaRon Defense.
Hailing from the rough streets of Toledo, Ohio, aka THE MUD, the twins say that Coach Saunders and football has been their saving grace. “Things were bad in Toledo,” professed LaRon. “If we had stayed, we would have probably ended up dead or in jail.”
According to LaJuan there was a lot of gang activity, fights and deaths. “Georgia is different but it’s better for us,” he said.
In addition to football, both twins say they enjoy playing lacrosse. “Lacrosse is not as easy as it looks,” says LaJuan. “It was a little harder than I expected but I like it.”
Is there time for anything else in their life? The twins say not at all. Between football practice Monday
through Thursday, and games on Friday, they seem to only have time for sleep. Then in the off-season it starts all over again with Lacrosse and training.
So, what does the future look like for these two after high school? They say their goal is to graduate and go off to play in college. “It really doesn’t matter to me what college I go to”, LaJuan says. “I just want to try to get a scholarship so that my mom doesn’t have to worry about anything.” LaRon says he just wants to go wherever he can. “Sometimes I want to make sure I stay close to home with my mom, but then I think about all of my family back in Ohio. But I think I would rather stay close to my mom.”
No matter which school these two linemen end up at, we’re certain they’ll make a positive impact. They’re on the same mental wavelength and that telepathic connection ties them together, acting as an ideal bond for players with complementary skill sets.
by Joyce Oscar