The day started out mild as four friends left the Clearwater, FL launch ramp at 6:30 AM last Saturday morning. By mid-afternoon the weather turned nasty and the sea began building up. By Sunday the nation learned of the four missing anglers, two of whom were NFL players. Monday morning the USCG rescued one of the men, Nick Schuyler, who had managed to perch himself atop the capsized hull and was holding on to the outboard motor’s lower unit. The three other men were not found after an extensive USCG search and yesterday the mission was called off because after 72 hours in the 68-degree water the men must have succumbed to hypothermia if not drowned. The boat involved was a 21’ Everglades, a brand that is well-known to have among the best floatation systems in boats. The fact that the boat floated level in its capsized state is credited with saving Schuyler’s life.

Late-breaking story from the St. Petersburg Times -- Did Football Players Give Up? --

Nick Schuyler sitting on boat with legs wrapped around outboard’s lower unit.

Corey Smith, a defensive lineman with the Detroit Lions; Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, who owned the 21-foot boat; and former South Florida player William Bleakley are presumed lost from their ill-timed fishing trip 35 miles into the Gulf of Mexico from Clearwater, Florida.

Two NFL players, Corey Smith (l) and Marquis Cooper (r) . Cooper owned the 21-footer.

On the ill-fated boat were Corey Smith, a defensive lineman with the Detroit Lions; Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, who owned the 21-foot boat; former South Florida player William Bleakley; and, Nick Schuyler, a former South Florida football player, the lone survivor.

Weather Turns Nasty

The weather at first was pleasant, with temperatures in the high 60s. But the National Weather Service issued a caution for small boats, said Rick Davis, a meteorologist in Tampa. The forecast called for 15 mph winds and six-foot waves. ''When they headed out, conditions were fairly light,'' Davis said. ``But, as our forecasts had in it, the seas were building all day, and they got extremely rough on Sunday.''

The waves rose as high as 14 feet as the wind gusted to 40 mph.

Authorities said Schuyler told rescuers that the boat was capsized by a wave late Saturday evening while the men were trying to raise the anchor. According to search a friend of the survivor, William Bleakley swam under the capsized boat and retrieved three life preservers and a Type IV throwable life cushion. Bleakley took the cushion, it was reported.

The alarm at 1:30 AM Sunday morning when the four men had not arrived home.

Some Had Reservations…

According to newspaper accounts, Cooper had invited the boat's captain, Clay Eavenson, on Saturday's trip but he declined -- in part because he was worried about going 50 miles from shore in a 21-foot boat.

A 2006 file photo of Will Bleakley who played football at the University of South Florida.

Mario Bridges, the best friend of Corey Smith, told Early Show anchor Maggie Rodriguez that Smith had expressed some concern before this weekend's trip.

"He actually said that he was never going to go back out there," Bridges told Rodriguez. "He said that Sunday when he came back, that he was never going to go because, you know, they were far out, and he felt like the boat was a little small for how far they were out.

"And then Friday he called and said that he was going. And I was surprised at that. We talked about it. But he said he was going to go ahead and go this last time."

Former University of South Florida player Nick Schuyler, the only survivor.

The Survivor Speaks

The average person can survive in waters of 60 to 70 degrees for about two days before succumbing to hypothermia, according to information from the Mayo Clinic. The Gulf waters' temperature was 68, according to the National Weather Service.

Rescued ex-football player Nick Schuyler said Monday he managed to survive more than 36 harrowing hours lost at sea by thinking about his mother. "Mom, you're not going to go to my funeral," Nick Schuyler, 24, told his mom moments after being plucked from the capsized fishing boat.

"He said they were overturned by a wave while raising the anchor and all four men were clinging to the boat," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Robert Simpson. A cousin of Cooper told the St. Petersburg Times that all four men initially managed to cling to the capsized boat, but only Schuyler was able to hold on.

Scott Miller, a friend of the college teammates, said Schuyler told him that on the first night, a chopper shone a light right above them and that later on, as they continued to drift, he could even see lights from the shore. But the waves were powerful, and after Cooper and Smith got separated from the boat, the college teammates tried to hang on.

High Waves the Problem

“He said basically that Will helped him keep going,” Schuyler told Miller, who said he had known Bleakley since the sixth grade. “The waves were just so much. They never got a break.”

Seas were reportedly as high as 15’ in the area on Sunday. Sources said Schuyler told family members the others clung to the overturned boat for 12 to 16 hours into Sunday morning before slipping away.

By Monday, harsh sea and weather conditions were starting to subside. Waves were 6 to 8 feet, still enough for a small craft advisory, but considerably smaller than Sunday's 15-footers, said National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Barron.

Football Players who Liked Fishing

Defensive end Smith, 29, appeared in 12 games with the Detroit Lions in the past season, his seventh in the NFL. Linebacker Cooper, 26, played in eight games with the Oakland Raiders last year. The two were teammates with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 2004 season.

Former Buccaneers linebacker Ryan Nece said both of the NFL players are "good guys" and responsible individuals. He said: "As soon as I heard the news, I felt it like they were people in my own family. Those are two guys I really respect and two guys who are just blue collar good guys.

"They work hard. They are family guys. They are simple guys who just like to go out on a boat and just hang out and relax. They are not flashy.

"They are the opposite of what a football player's image is portrayed to society. I'm just praying for them and everybody is praying that it turns out a different way," he told the Tampa Tribune.

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In next week’s newsletter BoatTEST.com will conduct a forum on this tragedy to draw out the lessons learned from it, as well as what boat owners might be able to do in the future to avoid capsizing, and what measures to take if it happens.

Please give us you input below to be part of next week’s discussion.