Missing Boaters Update

from ESPN

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Coast Guard says a man who went missing during a fishing trip has been found clinging to an overturned boat that belongs to Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper.

The Coast Guard says former University of South Florida player Nick Schuyler was rescued Monday off the Florida coast. Authorities say Cooper, Detroit Lions free agent Corey Smith and former South Florida player, William Bleakley, remain missing.

Coast Guard Capt. Timothy M. Close says Schuyler told rescuers that the 21-foot boat was anchored when it flipped Saturday evening in rough seas. Schuyler told rescuers the others got separated from the boat and that he had been clinging to it since.

Television footage shows Schuyler conscious but weak as he was being taken off a Coast Guard helicopter at Tampa General Hospital and placed on a stretcher.

The St. Petersburg Times reported that Schuyler's family has been alerted by the Coast Guard and that Schuyler was found alive and is talking. Schuyler is en route to a Tampa-area hospital.

Asked for a reaction from the newspaper, Stuart Schuyler, who is Nick's father, said: "Like God heard me."

The men were reported missing Sunday, and the Coast Guard had searched about 16,000 square miles of ocean for the 21-foot Everglades-manufactured boat by Monday morning.

Everglades boats are built with compressed foam encased in Fiberglas, which makes them difficult or impossible to sink.

Petty Officer Sondra-Kay Kneen confirmed searchers located a boat. No further details were available.

Waves had subsided to 6 to 8 feet, still enough for a small craft advisory, but considerably smaller than the 15-foot waves Sunday, National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Barron said.

Family members believed the men had lifejackets and flares on board. The Coast Guard had not received a distress signal from the men.

Cooper owns the boat, and he and Smith, who were teammates with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004, have been on fishing trips before, according to Ron Del Duca, Smith's agent.

Coast Guard Capt. Timothy M. Close said at least one of the men was an experienced boater, and relatives provided the Coast Guard with GPS coordinates from previous fishing expeditions.

The 29-year-old Smith of Richmond, Va., is 6-foot-2, 250 pounds and had 30 tackles, including three sacks, and an interception in 12 games last season for the winless Lions.

Cooper, 26, who is 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, has spent five seasons with five different teams, appearing in 26 games with the Buccaneers in 2004 and 2005, but playing sparingly since. He grew up in Gilbert, Ariz., and his father Bruce is a prominent sportscaster for KPNX-TV in Phoenix.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.