Buffalo Bills general manager, Brandon Beane, has expressed his backing for rookie cornerback Maxwell Hairston following allegations of sexual assault made against him by a former university classmate.

Hairston, chosen by the Bills as the 30th pick in the NFL Draft this year, is now facing a lawsuit alleging he committed a sexual assault against a woman during his time at the University of Kentucky in 2021.

The accuser, Rebecca Hendryx, states they lived in the same dormitory in early 2021. According to her legal team in documents reviewed by the Daily Mail, the incident occurred when Hairston allegedly forced his way into her room. Hendryx claims she resisted, but he overpowered her, forcibly removing her clothing and assaulting her.

Hairston, now 21, was 17 at the time of the incident. He is not facing criminal charges and already claims to have been ‘exonerated’ following a previous University of Kentucky investigation.

And as he continues to protest his innocence, the new Bills star has received support from Beane – who praised him for not ‘running’ from the allegations and being a ‘young man you would let in your house’.

‘Frustrating because, in the legal world you can’t sit there and say things back and forth. You’ve got to let it go,’ the Buffalo GM told reporters on Wednesday. ‘This happened to this young man over four years ago. He gave up his phone to prove [it]… he took a polygraph test. This kid didn’t run from anything, he answered all of that.

‘We have to remember in society that people can make accusations and do things. I have no idea what the agenda is there. I can tell you, every stone we turned over, every door we looked behind, this is a very good young man. A young man you would let in your house, watch your kids, hang out with whoever.

‘He is genuinely a good person. I think we need to remember in the world, I’m not going to get into it, but we see these accusations, sometimes these guys can be victims, too. They make a lot of money. Rarely do people defend them.

‘That’s hard for me in this seat sometimes. Because I’ve seen it. We’ve had it here with a player here a few years ago that’s no longer here that’s wrongly accused.’

The former player Beane was referring to is Matt Araiza, who was released by the Bills in August 2022 after a woman alleged that he and other San Diego University players raped her at an off-campus party in October 2021.

She claimed that the punter, then 21, had sex with her in the side yard of a house before bringing her into a bedroom where a group of men took turns raping her.

However, after he filed a defamation countersuit against her, the woman agreed to dismiss him from her lawsuit in December of last year.

Araiza also dropped his countersuit against her to bring the ordeal to a close, before he was signed by back-to-back Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs two months later.

Hairston insists he has nothing to hide despite the accusations that have been leveled against him, telling reporters after practice on Wednesday: ‘The University of Kentucky did a thorough investigation. I was exonerated from that, as well. And I volunteered to do multiple polygraphs ’cause I was determined to get my truth out there, because I had nothing to hide. I was an open book.

‘I have two sisters that I love dearly, and I respect all females, and I was just determined to get my truth out there. Like I said, I was an open book, and I was exonerated from both of those and just got to stay strong. But I’m confident that my truth will be out there.’

Beane also previously said that the Bills looked into the claims made against Hairston before drafting him 30th overall in April.