GoYeo Storytellers: Jabree & Jubreel Hason '20

College seniors and football players Jabree and Jubreel Hason are fraternal twins born just five minutes apart, but they look so alike that their mother thinks the doctor made a mistake. Twenty-one years later, the brothers’ friends, teammates, coaches, and professors at Oberlin College have a difficult time differentiating the two

Part of what makes it so hard to tell the two apart is how inseparable they are. The brothers shared a bedroom growing up in Sicklerville, New Jersey, and have been roommates at Oberlin all four years. They both play defensive back for the Yeomen and are just one number apart on the roster — Jabree is 25 and Jubreel is 26. They were on the same baseball, basketball, and track and field teams growing up as well, and have registered for all of the same classes since high school.

The twins’ accomplishments are even remarkably similar. Through three-and-a-half years, Jabree has collected 107 solo tackles, 27 assisted tackles, and two interceptions in 32 games, while Jubreel has totaled 167 solo tackles, 30 assisted tackles, and four fumble recoveries in just as many games. In the classroom, the brothers are both Economics majors and have finished the past two semesters with the same GPA — a trend that started in high school.

At Timber Creek Regional High School, Jabree and Jubreel had different academic strengths but both graduated with a 4.59 grade-point average weighted through advanced placement classes on a 4.0 scale and were ranked No. 2 in a senior class of 344. The brothers each received a significant academic scholarship from Oberlin.

According to Jabree, he and Jubreel never considered attending different colleges.

“We always knew we wanted to go to school together,” he said. “We’ve always pushed each other growing up, and we knew that if we went to college together we would always be able to bounce ideas off one another and motivate each other.”

They looked at a few schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference, a couple of Ivy League schools, and some Historically Black Colleges and Universities, but Oberlin was ultimately the perfect fit.

“We took a visit to Oberlin the December of our senior year [of high school] and were sold,” Jubreel said. “We were just looking for a place where we could continue to play football and also get a great education.”

Nearly 15 years after beginning youth football together, the twins still pick up on each other’s habits and tendencies on the field, constantly making each other better football players.

“We kind of always know what the other is thinking,” Jubreel said. “We finish each other’s sentences all the time. Sometimes we’ll say the same thing at the same time.”

“Just witnessing the work ethic behind all of their successes every single day is absolutely remarkable,” Hewitt said. “Seeing the amount of effort they put into everything they do inspires me to go harder in everything I do, and I know that this impact has spread to other members of the team as well.”

One of the biggest reasons the brothers connect so well and are so self-motivated is the memory of their father, Abu Hason, who was killed in an automobile accident when the boys were 10 years old.

“We always knew we would need to lean on each other when things get hard or even when things are going well,” Jabree said. “Losing our dad definitely strengthened our connection. My mom, my sister, and Jubreel and I always keep each other up and stay together.”

The brothers, who are part of the Heisman Club's "Career Captains" panel on Sunday, October 6 during Homecoming Weekend, have also completed impressive internships in the financial industry. In 2017 Jubreel interned with Morgan Stanley at its headquarters in New York City, while Jabree interned with TD Bank in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Jubreel spent the last two summers interning as a fixed income analyst for AllianceBernstein in New York City, where he will return after graduation. Jabree was an investment research intern at Fidelity Investments in Boston for two years, and recently accepted an offer to return after the academic year.

“[Summer] is really our only time away from each other,” Jubreel said. “It’s funny. When our friends only see one of us, they’ll message me and say, ‘Are you arguing or something right now?’ But really Jabree just had to run an errand or something.”

Jabree added that moving to different cities for good will be an adjustment for the brothers.

“The last two summers have been fine because we always knew we were coming back together, but after graduating we’ll be apart for good, so that’ll be interesting,” he said. “But there’s always FaceTime, and [New York City] is only three-and-a-half hours from Boston. We’ll make it."