Travis Kelce has admitted how bringing negativity to his family was the ‘hardest part’ of the college drugs scandal that threatened to end his NFL dream before it had started.

Kelce is hoping to lead the Kansas City Chiefs to a historic Super Bowl three-peat when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles in New Orleans on Sunday.

On the NFL’s glitzy opening night in Louisiana, the тιԍнт end dropped a speculative hint over a proposal to Taylor Swift and gave fans an insight into his NFL future. 

But, when asked by Mail Sport, he also spoke candidly about the costly mistake that that saw him get briefly kicked off of the University of Cincinnati football team 15 years ago.

Too much partying in the Big Easy before the Bearcats played in the Sugar Bowl in 2010 led to a failed drugs test for marijuana, which landed him on the school’s suspended list.

Kelce managed to get his place on team back and turned his football career around to become one of the NFL’s greatest-ever тιԍнт ends. However, he admitted the incident left a mark.

Travis Kelce has reveled the ‘hardest part’ of the drugs scandal he faced in college

Kelce, pictured with older brother Jason in their college days, was kicked out of the University of Cincinnati for failing a drugs test after partying in the Louisiana city back in 2010

The future NFL star failed a drugs test for marijuana before Cincinnati played in the Sugar Bowl

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He said: ‘I think it was a very emotional and meaningful thing that happened to me back in college and I brought that all on myself. 

‘I think it was just me not living up to my family’s expectations and that was probably the biggest thing.

‘Bringing negativity to them was probably the hardest part for me. 

‘Outside of that, I always knew I was going to find a way to figure things out and it wasn’t the end of the world for me.’

Kelce has spoken openly about the incident in the past, discussing it on the ‘Bussin’ With the Boys’ podcast in July 2023.

He admitted that he ‘partied a little too much down there [New Orleans], got hit with a drug test and from that point on, I realized I’ve got to тιԍнтen the f*** up.’  

Then, in a tell-all interview with The Athletic last year, Kelce’s former college roommate Zach Collaros recalled his mom accidentally walking in on the Chiefs star lighting up a joint during his suspension.

‘My mom visited one time,’ said Collaros. ‘This was when Travis was suspended. She doesn’t like going to the games so she just stayed behind and cleaned the house, which is a story in and of itself.

‘She smells something and walks downstairs in the basement and it’s Trav — smoking a joint. She goes: “Travis, aren’t you suspended for this?!?”

‘He goes: “Hey Momma Collaros, it’s all right. When are we going to the game?” And they walked to the game together. ‘

Travis confirmed the story was an accurate one on his New Heights podcast, having told his ex-college buddies to speak freely about their experience together in the piece.

‘I made sure to tell them don’t hold back, tell all the good stories,’ he insisted. ‘And sure enough they mentioned all the really good ones, like Zach’s mom walking in on me firing up in the garage before one of the games.

Kelce admitted he ‘partied too much’ in the Big Easy before being kicked out of college

Kelce dropped a hint over a proposal to Taylor Swift and gave fans an insight into his NFL future

‘Absolutely hilarious. That’s how I was living back then.’

Fortunately for Travis, older brother Jason – who was in his senior year at the time – was on hand to help after begging Cincinnati coaches to give him another chance.

‘He went into the coaches office and talked to numerous coaches to try and give me another chance,’ the Chiefs star said about Jason. 

‘I’m forever in debt to this guy for putting his name, our name – the Kelce name – on the line. When I say I owe it all to him, I really do.’