COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Texas A&M football player Brandon Fails died from a blood clot that formed as a result of a leg injury, the Travis County Medical Examiner's office has ruled.

	Fails

"That's what the preliminary results show ... it was due to an injury to his right leg,'' said Sarah Williams, a spokeswoman with the medical examiner's office. She said the full autopsy report won't be released until sometime next week.

The 6-foot-1, 307-pound Fails hurt his right knee in practice and had knee surgery Oct. 22.

The 18-year-old defensive lineman died Monday after collapsing as he was leaving his dorm room. He had complained of problems breathing and died about an hour later at a hospital in Bryan.

The Travis County Medical Examiner's office, which contracts with Brazos County, made the initial ruling about the massive pulmonary thromboembolism after conducting an autopsy Tuesday.

"It's a condition you can anticipate (after) surgeries that requires you to be immobilized for extended periods of time,'' A&M team physician Jesse Parr said in a story in Wednesday's Bryan-College Station Eagle. "But he was not immobilized. He was up and able and on crutches pretty quickly.''

Brazos County Justice of the Peace Patrick Meece, who ordered the autopsy, disagreed that the blood clot resulted from a leg injury. He said Fails was suffering from an upper respiratory infection, which was a more likely cause of the clot.

"He wasn't immobile. It is a knee-jerk response to say it is from a previous surgery,'' said Meece, who is not a medical doctor.

Parr said the clot wouldn't necessarily provide any warning signs.

"What happens is just what we saw -- a catastrophic, sudden event,'' he added. "Life can be so good on Sunday night visiting with his parents, but then things can suddenly deteriorate.

"It's one of these things that you don't have any control over.''

Pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot, or a portion of it, breaks free and circulates through the bloodstream to the lungs. It can become trapped in the arteries there. If the clot restricts blood flow to a large section of the lungs, sudden death can result.

Dr. Samuel Z. Goldhaber, an associate professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School and the founder of Brigham and Women's Hospital Thromboembolism Service in Boston, said in a story in Wednesday's Austin American-Statesman said any clotting that would occur in the calf after the kind of knee surgery Fails had would be minor and "rarely would they break off and go to the lungs.''

Like all freshman players at A&M, Fails was given a complete physical before reporting for football practices Aug. 5.

Fails played in four games this season before undergoing the surgery.

Fails was voted Class 5A Defensive Player of the Year by Associated Press Sports Editors last season. He was a first-team All-State selection by the APSE and the Texas Sports Writers Association.

In his senior season, Fails registered 36 tackles and five sacks and forced three fumbles. In limited playing time this season, Fails was in on two tackles against Louisiana Tech.

Texas A&M will play at rival Texas on Friday, and A&M players will wear small patches on their helmets with Fails' number, 89.

Funeral services for Fails are scheduled 3 p.m. Saturday at 3 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Euless, Texas. A Friday night viewing will take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Highland Meadows Christian Church in Colleyville, Texas.

His family asks that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the Brandon C. Fails Memorial Fund at Bank of America.