College football player dies of complications from tonsil surgery
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oct. 31, 2015: This photo shows Portland State University linebacker AJ Schlatter in action against the Montana Grizzlies. The school announced that Schlatter died at his home in Camy, Ore. Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016. (Portland State University)
An Oregon college was in mourning Monday after one of its star football players died suddenly due to complications from tonsil surgery.
Portland State University announced that freshman linebacker AJ Schlatter had died at his home Sunday evening, two days after undergoing the surgery.
Schlatter's father Jim, a former assistant football coach at the school, said in a Facebook post that he believed AJ "might have developed a blood clot after his surgery."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I failed my son tonight," Jim Schlatter's post said. "I could not recessatate [sic] him nor did the best efforts by ems [sic] and the emergency room staff."
Portland State Head Football Coach Bruce Barnum said PSU lost "a diamond that will never be replaced. [Schlatter] was the definition of what we are about at PSU."
Schlatter, who had just completed his redshirt freshman season, was originally a walk-on football player at Portland State but later earned a full scholarship. He made 62 tackles in 2015, good for fourth-most on the team. Portland State finished the season 9-3 and earned a berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Schlatter's family has deep ties to Portland State. In addition to his father's coaching tenure in the 1980s, his mother and sister played volleyball at the school and his mother was an assistant coach.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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