Mike Pouncey wasn’t just good friends with Aaron Hernandez, he considered the former New England Patriots tight end family.
Pouncey, as well as his twin brother, Maurkice, were collegiate teammates with Hernandez at Florida. And while most of the football world was stunned by Hernandez’s death, the Pouncey brothers took the loss particularly hard.
“It was tough,” Mike Pouncey told the Miami Herald. “Obviously, I don’t condone any of the things that he was accused of, but just to have a friend I was so close with, that I felt like was my brother and I know that he felt the same way, it’s tough. It’s tough for anyone to have a loss in their family, but that one right there hit me and my brother really hard.”
Hernandez committed suicide in his prison cell at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center on April 19, just days after he had been acquitted of a double murder charge. He remained incarcerated as part of his life sentence for the murder of Odin Lloyd in 2013.
Mike Pouncey actually had spoken to Hernandez not too long before he took his life and revealed that the former star tight end “was in great spirits” during the conversation.
“Just, you know, about the case that he had just won,” Pouncey said when asked what the conversation was about. “He was excited, ready to fight the first one again. Just a lot of different stuff. Happy for him.”
The positive final conversation seemingly made it even more difficult for Pouncey to accept the forthcoming news.
“It was just tough, man,” he said. “… We’re still shocked to this day that we’re even at this point.”
Hernandez was laid to rest on April 24 in his hometown of Bristol, Conn. Both Pouncey brothers attended the services and still remain close with Hernandez’s surviving family.
Thumbnail photo via Chris Humphreys/USA TODAY Sports Images
