Outdoor News Daily

Floridas Gulf Coast was the scene where a weekend fishing trip turned into a battle for survival.

Nick Schuyler, a former University of South Florida player, told officials that the 21 foot boat they had been fishing from, owned by Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, flipped on Saturday evening when the craft became entangled in rough waters and separated the men. Schuyler, who was wearing a live vest, clung to the boat until rescuers arrived.

Marquis Cooper and Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley, remained missing.

The fishermen left Clearwater Pass on Saturday with calm seas but as the wind picked up the water became rough with 7 foot waves peaking to 15 feet on Sunday. A relative alerted the Coast Guard when the men hadn’t returned from their fishing trip as expected.

The Coast Guard had already searched 16,000 square miles of ocean and said that plans to continue the search will last for quite a while.

Cooper 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.

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