Former Syracuse quarterback Rex Culpepper‘s grieving fiancée described him as “one in a billion” in an emotional tribute after his fatal dirt bike accident over the weekend at the age of just 28.
Rex, son of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Brad Culpepper, had proposed to his girlfriend of six years, Savanna Morgan, less than a month before his tragic death on Saturday in Georgia.
“No one expects to meet the love of your life and lose them in only 6 short years after meeting,” Savanna wrote in a heartfelt Instagram post shared on Monday.
“Rex didn’t always believe in soulmates, but towards the end, he told me that he didn’t realize what having a soulmate felt like until we felt like extensions of each other,” Savanna said in the lengthy post, which featured numerous sweet, tender pictures of them together.
“You don’t just meet people like Rex all the time. He was one in a billion,” Savanna wrote. “I don’t think this Rex-shaped hole inside of me will ever be filled.”
“Our story was a good one, babe,” she said.
Savanna met Rex at Syracuse while he was a senior quarterback and she was a member of the cheerleading squad.
The pair began dating just a couple of years after Rex’s well-publicized battle with testicular cancer, and she remained by his side as he transitioned from D1 athlete to law student and eventually a practicing attorney in Florida.
Savanna had announced her and Rex’s engagement less than a month ago in a sweet Instagram post on Feb. 21.
Captioned, “Soooo… what are we???” the post featured pictures showing Rex proposing to Savanna during a horseback ride in the Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina.
No details have been released about Saturday’s crash, which was confirmed on Monday.
A memorial is expected to be held in his hometown of Tampa, Florida, where his parents live.
The Syracuse athletic department is said to be planning a moment of silence and a video tribute for their next major home sporting event.
