The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/4/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Associated Press Donald Nicholson, left, a friend of missing fisherman Marquis Cooper walks with an unidentified member of Corey Smith's family at the U.S. Coast Guard station in St. Petersburg, Fla., Tuesday after being told the search for three missing fishermen has been called off. NFL players Marquis Cooper, Corey Smith, and former University of South Florida football player Will Bleakley, have not been seen since they left to go fishing early Saturday morning. A fourth man, Nick Schulyer, also formerly of the University of South Florida, was rescued earlier clinging to an overturned boat. The Coast Guard was searching a 3,000 square-mile area in the Gulf of Mexico for the missing boaters. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - The Coast Guard called off the search Tuesday for two NFL players and a third man lost at sea off the Florida coast after their boat capsized during a fishing trip.

Officials said the search would end at sundown, with Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, free-agent defensive lineman Corey Smith, who played with the Detroit Lions last season, and former South Florida player William Bleakley still missing in the rough, chilly seas.

"We're extremely confident that if there are any survivors on the surface of the water that we would have found them," said Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Close, who added that searchers scoured the equivalent of 24,000 square miles over more than 60 hours.

Hopes were raised Monday when crews found a fourth man who was aboard, 24-year-old former South Florida player Nick Schuyler, who managed to stay with the boat after it overturned Saturday evening.

William Bleakley's father said he felt comfortable with the Coast Guard's decision and that his expectations lowered after only one survivor was found.

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