- May 27, 2002
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http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29454121/
CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Coast Guard found former University of South Florida football player Nick Schulyer clinging to an overturned boat off Florida's Gulf Coast, but they have not found NFL players Corey Smith, Marquis Cooper and one other man yet, NBC News reported.
The search continues for the other boaters.
The Coast Guard declined to identify the one survivor, but NBC News reported that it is Nick Schuyler, citing a member of the Schuyler family.
Schuyler was to be transported to Tampa General Hospital in downtown Tampa, the family said, NBC News reported. TGH is the main Trauma hospital for the Tampa Bay area.
The Coast Guard has been searching for the four men since they were reported missing early Sunday morning. As of Monday morning, they had searched 16,000 square miles off Florida's Gulf Coast.
Petty Officer Sondra-Kay Kneen said they have located a vessel Monday and "a person on that vessel."
No further details were provided.
Cooper is an Oakland Raiders linebacker. Smith is a Detroit Lions free-agent defensive end. William Bleakley and Schuyler, the other men on board, are both former University of South Florida players.
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.
