BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Former University of Alabama and NFL linebacker Saleem Abdul Rasheed, carrying a copy of the Quran and a skull cap called a Kufi, surrendered to a judge this morning to begin serving a sentence for his guilty plea to charges that he had sex with two students at Woodlawn High School while he was a teacher at that school.

Rasheed, 32, surrendered to Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Teresa Pulliam this morning to begin serving the sentence she had imposed on him in April.

"We had an agreement to turn in at a certain time and he complied with that," said Rasheed's attorney, Charles Salvagio.

Rasheed was arrested in April 2012 on four charges involving a school employee having sex with a student. The charges relate to two students at Woodlawn High School.

Rasheed taught business education, a career technical course, at Erwin High School from Aug. 6, 2009 until Feb. 17, 2011 before teaching at Woodlawn High School in the Birmingham school system.

Rasheed was charged under a law enacted a few years ago that prohibits teachers from having sex with students, even if both parties are willing and it is consensual, Salvagio said. The students Rasheed pleaded guilty to having sex with were of age, but were students, he said.

In a plea agreement with the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office, two of the charges were dropped and Rasheed pleaded guilty to two other charges.

Under that plea agreement, Pulliam sentenced Rasheed in April to two 15-year split sentences, with three years to serve on each. But each sentence is to run concurrent, so Rasheed was sentenced to a total of three years confinement.

Salvagio, however, said that Rasheed will only have to serve about half of the three years because he is being given credit for time spent in federal prison while the state charges were pending.

Rasheed was sentenced by a federal judge in July 2012 to 8 months in prison and another 8 months in home detention for a guilty plea to charges of food stamp fraud and falsely claiming a woman as his wife on an immigration form. However, he was given credit for time served in jail while awaiting sentencing, so he had to spend less than six months in prison.

Rasheed pleaded guilty to a charge that he signed a Department of Homeland Security form I-751, a Petition to Remove Conditions of Residence, on behalf of a woman whom he claimed to be his wife, federal authorities said. Rasheed was, however, legally married to another woman, federal authorities said.

Rasheed is a U.S. citizen.

According to federal and state court documents Rasheed married Haddam Benachou in Morroco in 2005. The couple moved to the U.S. in 2006 and have since had two children, in 2007 and 2009.

On Nov. 29, 2006 Rasheed also had a child with another woman, Saida Mohamed Hussein. Rasheed married Hussein in Jefferson County in 2007 when he was not legally divorced from Benachou, according to court documents. In 2008 Rasheed and Hussein had another child.

Hussein filed for divorce from Rasheed in October, months after federal authorities had begun their investigation into the immigration form violation. The case was dismissed after Hussein claimed that the marriage was not valid because Rasheed was married to another woman.

Rasheed also pleaded guilty to receiving $5,551 in Family and Food Assistance, from October 2009 until April 2010, while claiming that he was unemployed. He was, however, working as a teacher for the Jefferson County Board of Education during that time.

Benachou pleaded guilty and was given probation on a federal charge of making a false statement to special agents of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security during their investigation, according to court documents.

Benachou was among family members, including his mother, and one friend who spoke at Rasheed's federal sentencing hearing about his devotion to his children and his Muslim faith.

When she sentenced Rasheed on the federal charges, U.S. District Court Judge Karon O. Bowdre said that she saw two patterns in Rasheed's behavior -- dishonesty to the government and the women in his family and misusing his religion to convince multiple women to marry him, contrary to laws against having multiple wives at the same time.

"He is a very devout Muslim," Salvagio said.

"He believes that under Sharia law you can have more than one wife and under Sharia law you can have more than one wife," Salvagio said. "Unfortunately, under Alabama law you cannot have more than one wife ... He understands that now."

Rasheed played football at Shades Valley High, before playing for the University of Alabama from 1999-2001. He then played four years in the NFL, including with the San Francisco 49ers and one year in the Canadian Football League.