The off-and-on college football career of Maryland wide receiver Marcus Leak has ended, at least in College Park.
Leak, who missed the 2013 season because of "personal reasons," has withdrawn from the university and is not expected to return, an athletic department official with knowledge of the situation said Friday.
Another source familiar with the situation said Leak's problems this time are similar to those in 2013, when his struggles extended to the classroom as well as the playing field.
Playing behind Deon Long and Stefon Diggs last season, Leak was the team's third-leading receiver as a junior, finishing with 20 catches for 297 yards and three touchdowns.
After starting fast, with 16 catches for 254 yards and all three touchdowns in the first six games, Leak was much less productive in the second half of the year. He didn't play in Maryland's Foster Farms Bowl loss to Stanford.
Though Leak was a standout performer in the Red-White spring game, finishing with three touchdown catches, Maryland coach Randy Edsall was cautious in praising a player who was expected to challenge for a starting job in 2015 despite a strong returning group.
"He's just got to be very consistent. He's got to have a want to do everything the right way and do it with an aggressiveness all the time," Edsall said in April. "He's a very talented young man, but sometimes he does things that doesn't allow him to reach his full potential."
Without Leak, wide receiver still is expected to be a strong group for Maryland in 2015. Brothers Levern and Taivon Jacobs return, as do Juwann Winfree, DeAndre Lane (Catonsville), Will Ulmer, Amber Etta-Tawo, Malcolm Culmer and incoming recruit D.J. Moore.
Levern Jacobs was the team's leading receiver two years ago (47 catches, 640 yards, three touchdowns) before sitting out last season after being suspended by the university for violating the student code of conduct. His younger brother Taivon, considered one of the fastest players on the team, missed most of last season with a knee injury.
Leak finishes his Maryland career with 45 catches for 775 yards and six touchdowns.
In a separate move, sophomore cornerback De'Andre Payne, who transferred to Maryland in January from Tennessee, also has withdrawn from school and is expected to go to junior college.