The Sports Xchange

The New England Patriots were aware that Aaron Hernandez had issues at the University of Florida, according to former NFL general manger Floyd Reese.

Reese, the long-time general manager of the Tennessee Titans before becoming a senior football advisor with the Patriots from 2009 to 2012 when Hernandez was drafted in 2010, began hosting a radio show this week in Nashville, Tenn.

Reese spoke to Greg Bedard of TheMMQB.com about Hernandez, who was found guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday in the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“When he was at Florida, he had some issues there too, there were some things that went on,” Reese told Bedard when he was a guest on 102.5 FM The Game on Wednesday evening. “We all knew about it. It was just from our standpoint, we were getting a first-round talent in the fourth round under a contract that was going to keep him in line or it wasn’t going to cost us a penny. The real downside for us was the fourth-round pick. The upside was he ending up being an All-Pro, for a while, until he got his second contract.”

Hernandez’s coach at Florida, current Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer, and Patriots coach Bill Belichick are good friends.

There were reports that Hernandez may have had failed drug tests while at Florida.

“We knew he had some issues prior,” Reese said. “Urban Meyer and Bill (Belichick) were very, very close, and I think Urban convinced Bill that, you know, that these things weren’t going to be an issue. When we structured his first contract, his rookie contract, we probably had 75 percent of the money in the contract set up so that he would only make it if he stayed out of trouble, didn’t miss meetings, was always there doing the right thing. And for the period of the original contract, he lived up to every bit of it. So it turned out well. Of course, after that, after he signed (a $40 million contract extension), things kind of went awry.

“Aaron grew up in a tough environment, but he went to the University of Florida to get away from Hartford. To get away from that environment. He knew it would be better for him. … The truth is, the vast majority of guys that have maybe had a tough upbringing, when you throw them into a great locker room, great organization, great place to play, they come out of it. They see the other side of it. ‘Why would I ever want to go back to that other place?’ The problem is you run into an Aaron Hernandez, who can’t get there. He’s comfortable back in Hartford … with all that trouble.”

Hernandez was a star tight end for the Patriots. He was released nine days after Lloyd’s murder when it became clear police were focusing on Hernandez as the suspect. In 2012, the Patriots signed Hernandez to a $40 million contract with $12.5 million guaranteed.

Hernandez on Wednesday was committed to state prison “for the term of his natural life without parole,” at MCI-Cedar Juncton in Norfok, Mass, which is just 3.4 miles from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, home of the Patriots.