One last chapter for Bukur brothers
Valparaiso twins battle with, for each other on and off the field
When friends ask Valparaiso’s Max Bukur whether he or his twin brother drives to school, he says they have a system.
“Tyler drives to school,” he said. “And I drive home.”
It’s a way for him to offer proof that the senior linebackers don’t fight about everything.
Just the more important stuff. Like who has more tackles. Before Friday’s game against Chesterton, Max Bukur held the lead in that category. It’s a statistic he proudly crows about in front of Tyler Bukur, who’s slightly more reserved.
Max Bukur had a team-leading 41 tackles, and Tyler Bukur was second with 29. Every Sunday, Max Bukur pulls up the MaxPreps.com stats to remind his twin of the current standings.
“I like to mess with him,” Max Bukur said.
“He always tries to one-up me,” Tyler Bukur said.
Tyler Bukur then reminds him that last year he was the leading tackler and the reason he’s not this year is because he gets used for pass coverage.
Max Bukur, who’s not as fast, strictly focuses on the running game.
The verbal jousting can be exhausting, but it’s about brotherly love.
The two are fraternal twins, although they look so much alike that many people think they’re identical.
It took Valparaiso coach Bill Marshall some time before he could tell them apart, even though Max Bukur is 2 inches shorter and 10 pounds lighter.
He said coaching them is a riot when it’s not a bit of a chore.
They get into it sometimes, like when Tyler Bukur was excoriating his brother in the Mishawaka game for being out of position.
“They are a blast,” Marshall said. “Max is more the coach on the field, and Tyler is more a physical presence.”
In Pop Warner, the two were so hypercompetitive that coaches had to put them on opposite sides of the ball.
“We were both yelling at each other on every play,” Tyler Bukur said.
Max Bukur said the yelling isn’t as serious as it might seem.
“It’s just our way of communicating,” he said. “We know we can push each other.”
Max Bukur, who was born two minutes before his twin, jokes that he has to be the more responsible one since he’s older.
“Those two minutes mean a lot,” he said. “I feel like I have to be the vocal one.”
In all seriousness, though, this is a poignant time for the Bukur twins.
They have done everything together.
They play baseball together, hang out with the same set of friends and play video games together.
They are soaking up the practices and Friday night lights for every memory they can bank.
They have spent only one day apart. That’s when Tyler Bukur went to a baseball camp at Ball State during his sophomore year.
Next year could be tough.
Tyler Bukur might play football somewhere, and Max Bukur isn’t sure he wants to continue.
They’ve never known what it’s like to be apart. They plan on majoring in criminal justice. They want to be FBI agents or maybe work in the Drug Enforcement Administration and help people.
It’s something they’ve thought about quite a bit. They don’t know where their paths will lead.
“It’s going to be hard,” Tyler Bukur said. “We’ve played every sport together. We’ve always been on the same team. We’ve done everything together. It’s going to be life-changing. I’ve always had that one person you can say, ‘Hey, are you up?’ And we can just have a midnight conversation together. I can’t have that anymore.”
Said Max Bukur: “It will be weird.”
For now, though, it’s about securing their legacy.
The Bukur twins won the Duneland Athetic Conference title as freshmen, as sophomores with the JV and as juniors on varsity.
They plan on leaving on a high note, winning one more conference championship while fighting about something along the way.
They are feeling good about their team, which means it’s important to focus on the present.
They’ll worry about next year when the time comes.