Update on four people -- two NFL players -- missing at sea.

I have been following this story for about 36 hours or so, and word is two of the four people who tried navigated a choppy Gulf of Mexico on Saturday have been found alive. The first, Nick Schuyler, was found clinging to the boat this morning. A second, Marquise Cooper, has also been found near Schuyler. All reports indicate both are alive and as well they can be considering the situation.

Two others -- former Detroit Lions defensive Corey Smith and former USF player William Bleakley -- are still missing.

The four men reportedly left on Saturday morning for an all-day fishing trip in a 21-foot boat, but high winds and waves as tall as 14 feet caused them problems.

Schuyler is also a former USF player, while Cooper played this past season with the Oakland Raiders.

UPDATE 1-- A Tampa newstation has withdrawn its report that Cooper was found alive, or found at all.
UPDATE 2 - What a sad, sad end to this story. I wish I could've updated the blog more over the course of the past four days with information from this story, but a heavy workload has me more focused on the print product as of late.

On Tuesday at dusk, the U.S. Coast Guard called off the search for the three remaining football players lost in the Gulf of Mexico. Two of those players -- Cooper and Smith -- were NFL players.

Schuyler, the lone boater rescued, is in fair condition and improving at a Tampa area hospital.

This'll be a tough story to monitor as Schuyler recalls details and tells the story of how the three men lost their lives on the unforgiving seas. There's already one account out that Schuyler told the mother of Bleakley that he was holding Bleakley when he died.

If something of note comes out in the coming days or weeks, I'll tag it to this post.