MIAMI (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard searched the Gulf of Mexico off Florida on Sunday for a missing boat with four people on board and local media reported that two of the missing men were National Football League players.
The boaters were identified as Corey Smith, Victor "Marquis" Cooper, Nick Skyler and William Bleakley, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
Tampa-area television stations identified Smith and Cooper as football players who began their careers with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the NFL team that plays not far from where the missing boat left shore in Clearwater, Florida.
According to the NFL's website, Corey Smith, 29, is a defensive end with the Detroit Lions, and Marquis Cooper, 26, is a linebacker with the Oakland Raiders.
The 21-foot (6-meter) vessel left early on Saturday morning from a boat ramp at Clearwater Pass and was reported missing when it failed to return as scheduled, Coast Guard officials said.
Smith, who played college football at North Carolina State, has been with Tampa Bay, San Francisco and Detroit in a six-year NFL career.
Cooper has spent time with Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Seattle, Jacksonville, Pittsburgh and Oakland in his five years in the NFL.
(Reporting by Jim Loney; Editing by Eric Beech)
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