{"id":816111,"date":"2026-03-16T23:47:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T23:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/816111\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T23:47:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T23:47:16","slug":"former-syracuse-qb-rex-culpepper-dead-at-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/816111\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Syracuse QB Rex Culpepper dead at 28"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Syracuse quarterback Rex Culpepper died over the weekend from injuries that he suffered in a Georgia dirt bike accident.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He was 28.<\/p>\n<p>Culpepper\u2019s fianc\u00e9e, Savanna Morgan, confirmed the passing in a heartbreaking post on Instagram on Monday, less than a month after the couple shared the news of their engagement on social media, with photos of Culpepper dropping down to one knee and Morgan showing off the ring.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one expects to meet the love of your life and lose them in only 6 short years after meeting,\u201d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DV8kRvdDi9K\/?img_index=13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> Morgan wrote in the post,<\/a> which featured images and videos of Culpepper. \u201cRex didn\u2019t always believe in soulmates but towards the end he told me that he didn\u2019t realize what having a soulmate felt like until we felt like extensions of each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38799902\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-1178864870.jpg\" alt=\"Rex Culpepper #17 of the Syracuse Orange runs out for the game against the Holy Cross Crusaders at the Carrier Dome on September 28, 2019.\" class=\"wp-image-38799902\"  \/>Rex Culpepper #17 of the Syracuse Orange runs out for the game against the Holy Cross Crusaders at the Carrier Dome on September 28, 2019. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd one thing about us is that we lived every single day like it was our last. We did every little thing that we set our minds to, between learning new skills and hobbies, and traveling to new places, there was never any free time with us and not a moment spent apart. I dont regret a single day in our 6 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou made six years feel like a lifetime Rexy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Culpepper played four seasons with the Orange, primarily as their backup quarterback from 2017 through 2020, though he did see playing time at tight end.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He appeared in 30 games during his college career, playing 16 of those at QB and passing for 1,546 yards and 11 touchdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Culpepper had been diagnosed with testicular cancer in March of 2018 and underwent extensive chemotherapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He famously played in Syracuse\u2019s spring game that season and came into the game in the final drive that resulted in Culpepper leading his team to a touchdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.61259843;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38799900\" width=\"951\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-1228600040.jpg\" alt=\"Rex Culpepper #17 of the Syracuse Orange drops back to pass in the second half during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Heinz Field on September 19, 2020.\" class=\"wp-image-38799900\"  \/>Rex Culpepper #17 of the Syracuse Orange drops back to pass in the second half during the game against the Pittsburgh Panthers on September 19, 2020. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>He was declared cancer-free in June 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Former Syracuse teammate Eric Dungey mourned the loss of Culpepper in a post of his own on social media, describing him as a \u201cguy who had zero fear and truly lived life to the fullest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Culpepper was the son of former Buccaneers defensive tackle Brad Culpepper and his younger brother Judge had played college football as well, playing defensive tackle at Penn State and Toledo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m sure that myself and all of you who cared about him will never truly be able to move on after knowing someone like him,\u201d Morgan wrote on Monday. \u201cYou don\u2019t just meet people like Rex all the time. He was one in a billion. There wasn\u2019t one thing that man couldn\u2019t do. Lawyer, mechanic, musician, chef, athlete, nerd\u2026.lover.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Syracuse quarterback Rex Culpepper died over the weekend from injuries that he suffered in a Georgia dirt&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[331,7,49,48,21323,9,3862],"class_list":["post-816111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-obituaries","tag-sports","tag-syracuse-orange"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116241528678012734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}