COLLEGE PARK — Marcus Leak's college career at Maryland has been a four-year odyssey filled with short bursts of breathtaking performances and longer stretches of baffling inconsistency.
In that way, Leak has often been a tease for Maryland coach Randy Edsall and the Terps.
Two years after leaving school for "personal reasons" and months after finishing a 2014 season that started fast before fading down the stretch, the rising senior receiver re-emerged in Saturday's Red-White spring game at Byrd Stadium.
After what Leak did in leading the Red team to a 21-16 victory, both Leak and Edsall hope that it was a major step to a more consistent and productive season in 2015.
Leak caught three first-half touchdown passes from rising redshirt junior quarterback Perry Hills and had six receptions for the game for 132 yards. He could have had a fourth touchdown had Hills not thrown well over Leak's head on a sideline rout.
"I told Marcus, 'Let's go back to my true freshman year and do what we did then,'" said Hills, who completed 12 of 24 passes for 212 yards Saturday. "He has a lot of potential, he's a playmaker and ... he made a lot of plays out there today."
The three touchdowns were all different: A 26-yarder in the first quarter that Leak caught on an underneath route, then twisted his way through several would-tacklers to the end zone, a 3-yard fade in the end zone, and then a 25-yarder in which he outjumped Jarrett Ross in the end zone.
"I just wanted to come out and execute and [make] some plays," Leak said. "Of course you want to have fun in the spring game, fans come out and you want to make sure they have a good time. We came out and executed and put some points up. That was the main goal today."
The performance came after Leak had more dropped passes than big catches in the practices leading up to the spring game.
"He made some plays today and caught the ball and he had some guys take bad angles on him, but give him credit, he did some good things today," Edsall said after the Terps concluded practice until summer.
Taking advantage of a shorthanded group of receivers that lost its two top pass catchers, Stefon Diggs and Deon Long, as well as having promising wideout Tavon Jacobs miss the spring while recovering from a knee injury, Leak knew that he could use the spring game as a launching pad for his final season.
Not that Leak thinks he is Maryland's only big-play receiver.
"I don't feel like no one man is targeted, you just want to give him the ball. Today it just seemed that way because I made some plays. I feel like we have a lot of guys that can make plays on the offensive side of the ball," Leak said.
Edsall has seen what Leak can do. Last season, Leak caught a pair of first-quarter touchdown passes in a 24-17 win at South Florida in the second week. Two weeks later, Leak caught another first-quarter touchdown to help the Terps get out fast in a 34-20 win at Syracuse.
After catching 16 passes for 253 yards and the three touchdowns in the team's first six games, Leak caught just four more passes for 44 yards in the last seven.
"That's the biggest thing with Marcus, it's just a matter of being more consistent and doing all the little things right, on and off the field," Edsall said. "If he does those things he's got a chance. If he doesn't, he's just an average guy. He's a very talented young man, but sometimes he does things that doesn't allow him to reach his full potential."
Said Leak: "I'm just coming out every day, working really hard and listening to my coaches. We have evaluations after the spring and whatever they suggest I'm going to work on and give myself the best chance to be an impact player. ... No one's perfect. Everyone needs to improve mentally and physically so we can be the best team we can be."
NOTES: Lou Groza Award winner Brad Craddock had a 50-yard field goal on his only try of the game. ... Rising senior tailback Brandon Ross led the White team's offense with 102 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries, including a 56-yard run. ... White team quarterback Shane Cockerillle (Gilman) struggled, completing just five of 20 passes for 102 yards and an interception by Will Likely on the last play of the game. He was also sacked four times.
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