Urban Meyer may have helped cover up Aaron Hernandez drug use, violent incidents at Florida

A lengthy article by Rolling Stone magazine details the life of former New England Patriots and Florida Gators tight end Aaron Hernandez leading up to the murder of Odin Lloyd. The article is compelling and it is definitely worth your time to read the entire piece, but there were a few key notes that stuck out.

We have previously covered the report that Hernandez was a heavy angel dust user, and it looks like his problems date all the way back to his time with the Florida Gators.

The report goes on to say that former Florida and current Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer may have helped to cover up drug use and a string of violent incidents during Hernandez’s time with the Gators.

Rolling Stone teased the idea on Tuesday:

"In college his coach (then-University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer) may have helped cover up failed drug tests, along with two violent incidents — an assault and a drive-by shootout outside a local bar."

They provided more details in today’s piece:

"“We didn’t hear that story till much, much later – the police didn’t file a report,” says a local reporter who was covering the team. As a sophomore, Hernandez was benched for the season opener, meaning he’d likely failed drug tests over the summer. But Meyer denied it, saying he “wasn’t ready to play,” again giving cover for bad behavior. “Meyer kept us at such a distance,” says the reporter, “or flat-out lied, that we couldn’t verify a pot suspension.”Hernandez would fail other drug tests, according to reports, and should have faced bans for up to half a season, per school regulations. Instead, he didn’t miss a single snap, though he was seen hanging out with a crew of thugs at a local bar. One of them was Bristol pal Ernest Wallace, who came down to Florida, says a friend, to be “Aaron’s muscle.”"

It is important to remember that this is just one report confirmed by one source, so you can’t be certain that Meyer did what he could to cover up the incidents. It is also well documented that Meyer did what he could to help Hernandez turn his life around while he was at Florida, so you can’t say he wasn’t trying to do the right thing.

However, if it does come out from more sources that Meyer had more knowledge that he appeared to have and did what he could to cover up the incidents, he could be in some serious hot water, along with the university.

This is just the beginning of this story and we will begin to hear more dirt dug up as time goes on, so buckle up and enjoy the ride because this story is going to continue to get more and more interesting.