Search narrows for NFL players off Fla. Gulf Coast

CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Coast Guard on Monday narrowed the search area for two NFL players and a third man missing since a weekend fishing trip off the Florida Gulf Coast after crews rescued a fourth man clinging to their capsized boat.

Survivor Nick Schuyler, a former University of South Florida player, told rescuers that the boat the four friends were aboard was anchored when it flipped Saturday evening in rough seas, said Coast Guard Capt. Timothy M. Close. Since then, Schuyler, who was wearing a life vest, had been hanging onto the boat found by a Coast Guard cutter 35 miles off Clearwater.

Schuyler said the other three men got separated from the boat.   
 
The 21-footer belongs to Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, who, along with free-agent defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley, remained missing.

Schuyler was conscious but appeared weak as he was being taken off a helicopter at Tampa General Hospital and placed on a stretcher. His father said his son was in serious but stable condition and that he “looks OK.”

Smith’s family planned to drive to Florida from Richmond, Va., on Tuesday after the snowy weather in the East made getting a flight impossible, said Yolanda Newbill, one of Smith’s sisters. She said they have been in contact with the Coast Guard every few hours since the search began.

“We have never lost hope,” Newbill said. “We have total faith that (he) will be coming home.”