Arizona Player’s Death Is a Mystery : College football: Damon Terrell had been hospitalized in August but seemed to be recovering.

Mister Veazie, a defensive back from El Camino College in Torrance, learned Thursday that former teammate Damon Terrell had lost his son in July.

“One of the guys on the team thought it was him,” Veazie said Friday. “I said, ‘No, it wasn’t him .’ ”

But early Friday, Veazie, of Culver City, was told the tragic news. Only a month after the death of his year-old son, Brandon Marcel, Terrell died suddenly at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson.

Terrell’s death has left former teammates and friends from Los Angeles to Tucson baffled. Medical authorities were trying to determine the cause of death. Terrell’s body was taken to the Pima County medical examiner’s office, but an autopsy had not been performed, officials said.

Terrell, a month shy of his 22nd birthday, had been expected to start as Arizona’s tight end this season. But he was hospitalized Aug. 10 after collapsing during a conditioning drill. A day later, surgeons removed his ruptured spleen. Doctors then said he had irreversible kidney damage.

“In the last 10 days, the kidneys were working and he was eating regularly,” said John Featherstone, El Camino’s football coach who has been in close contact with Terrell’s parents, Ricky and Linda. “He was awake and feeling good. Something happened [Thursday].”

Terrell, 6 feet 4 and 240 pounds, was said to be in good health when he reported to training camp in early August. And when he collapsed after running a drill, trainers thought he simply was dehydrated.

His parents have asked officials not to release information about his death until they get an explanation from physicians.

Coach Dick Tomey told his team about the death after it had rallied to defeat Georgia Tech Thursday night in Tucson, 20-19.

“At times like this you just need to stay close to people you love and care about,” he said. “We intend to do that.”

In the Southland, where Terrell attended Serra High in Gardena before going on to El Camino, the main question was why.

“Who would have thought. . . . He was in perfect health and condition,” Veazie said. “How could he be gone?”

Said Featherstone: “The biggest thing to remember is Damon always had a smile on his face. He was constant energy.”

Terrell also was an outstanding baseball player at Serra and considered making it a career. But he missed football and joined El Camino’s team in 1992 and ’93 before transferring to Arizona.

“He thought he’d get drafted by Atlanta,” Veazie said. “He thought he’d be their next tight end.”