Tributes have poured in for two popular Oxford students who died in unrelated incidents on Monday.

Sundeep Watts, 18, a first-year at Exeter College, died of bacterial meningitis at the John Radcliffe Hospital, while 19-year-old Harcourt "Olly" Tucker, also a first-year at the college, suffered a suspected heart attack during a hockey match.

Yesterday, friends and colleagues of the two men spoke of their popularity and talent.

Robert Cook, the headteacher of Victoria College in Jersey, where Mr Watts studied before going up to Oxford, described him as "the sort of student that every school would want" and a man with a very bright future ahead of him.

He said: "He was outstanding academically, an outstanding tennis player, a good all-round sportsman and an excellent musician. He was hugely popular among students and staff and was one of our prefects. It is hugely tragic."

Hugh Raymond, the tennis manager for the Channel Islands, said that Mr Watts was a very talented player and his death was a massive loss to the sport in Jersey.

On social networking website Facebook, friends of Mr Tucker posted scores of messages on a special group set up in his memory.

Louis Minders said: "Olly... you did more in your short lifetime than many would take several to do."