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Maryland's presumed No. 1 wide receiver left the program Friday, as it was announced Marcus Leak would be gone for "personal reasons." It's the second time Leak has left the team, but this time he's not expected back. It's a pretty significant blow to Maryland's depth chart, which already had to replace starting wide receivers Stefon Diggs and Deon Long.
Leak was targeted third-most of Maryland's receivers in 2014, behind Stefon Diggs and Deon Long and ahead of Jacquille Veii. Now, all four are gone. A look at the damage, via Bill Connelly's excellent preview. More on what these stats actually mean here, but I'll try and explain what's relevant below.
| Player | Pos. | Ht, Wt | 2015 Year |
Rivals | 247 Comp. | Targets | Catches | Yards | Catch Rate | Target Rate |
%SD | Yds/ Target |
NEY | Real Yds/ Target |
RYPR |
| Stefon Diggs | WR | 94 | 62 | 792 | 66.0% | 24.2% | 68.1% | 8.4 | 46 | 7.8 | 109.7 | ||||
| Deon Long | WR | 89 | 51 | 575 | 57.3% | 22.9% | 58.4% | 6.5 | -56 | 6.4 | 79.6 | ||||
| Levern Jacobs (2013) | WR | 5'11, 180 | Sr. | 3 stars (5.5) | 0.8089 | 71 | 46 | 640 | 64.8% | 18.2% | 54.4% | 9.0 | 85 | 9.5 | 88.7 |
| Marcus Leak | WR | 6'0, 210 | Sr. | 3 stars (5.6) | 0.8425 | 37 | 20 | 297 | 54.1% | 9.5% | 56.8% | 8.0 | 47 | 8.1 | 41.1 |
| Jacquille Veii | WR | 35 | 16 | 230 | 45.7% | 9.0% | 45.7% | 6.6 | 22 | 6.2 | 31.8 | ||||
| Amba Etta-Tawo | WR | 6'1, 200 | Jr. | 3 stars (5.5) | 0.8256 | 25 | 10 | 222 | 40.0% | 6.4% | 28.0% | 8.9 | 87 | 8.1 | 30.7 |
| Brandon Ross | RB | 5'10, 210 | Sr. | 2 stars (5.3) | NR | 23 | 14 | 212 | 60.9% | 5.9% | 56.5% | 9.2 | 41 | 9.2 | 29.4 |
| Wes Brown | RB | 6'0, 210 | Jr. | 4 stars (5.8) | 0.9374 | 23 | 21 | 198 | 91.3% | 5.9% | 43.5% | 8.6 | -42 | 7.9 | 27.4 |
| Juwann Winfree | WR | 6'2, 195 | So. | 4 stars (5.8) | 0.9010 | 14 | 11 | 158 | 78.6% | 3.6% | 42.9% | 11.3 | 30 | 9.8 | 21.9 |
| Kenneth Goins Jr. | FB | 5'9, 230 | Jr. | 2 stars (5.4) | 0.8471 | 12 | 7 | 54 | 58.3% | 3.1% | 91.7% | 4.5 | -32 | 2.8 | 7.5 |
| Derrick Hayward | TE | 6'5, 235 | So. | 2 stars (5.4) | 0.8458 | 9 | 2 | 25 | 22.2% | 2.3% | 55.6% | 2.8 | -8 | 2.6 | 3.5 |
| Daniel Adams | WR | 8 | 2 | 39 | 25.0% | 2.1% | 50.0% | 4.9 | 8 | 4.9 | 5.4 | ||||
| Albert Reid | RB | 7 | 6 | 51 | 85.7% | 1.8% | 28.6% | 7.3 | -18 | 6.4 | 7.1 | ||||
| Andrew Isaacs | TE | 6'2, 240 | Jr. | 4 stars (5.8) | 0.8621 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 50.0% | 1.0% | 75.0% | 0.8 | -22 | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| P.J. Gallo | TE | 6'3, 250 | Jr. | 3 stars (5.5) | 0.8614 | 3 | 2 | 13 | 66.7% | 0.8% | 33.3% | 4.3 | -11 | 3.5 | 1.8 |
| Malcolm Culmer | WR | 6'0, 190 | Jr. | 2 stars (5.4) | 0.8207 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 33.3% | 0.8% | 33.3% | 1.7 | -9 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| DeAndre Lane | WR | 5'8, 180 | Jr. | 2 stars (5.3) | 0.7820 | ||||||||||
| Taivon Jacobs | WR | 5'10, 165 | So. | 3 stars (5.7) | 0.8444 | ||||||||||
| Will Ulmer | WR | 6'0, 194 | RSFr. | 3 stars (5.7) | 0.8747 | ||||||||||
| D.J. Moore | WR | 5'10, 185 | Fr. | 4 stars (5.8) | 0.8872 | ||||||||||
| Jahrvis Davenport | WR | 5'10, 185 | Fr. | 3 stars (5.4) | 0.8311 |
First things first, even without Leak, Maryland has a ton of options. The Jacobs brothers are back, Will Ulmer and D.J. Moore are exciting young options, and there are other players who have contributed already in College Park on the roster.
Leak caught 54.1% of his targets last season -- out of the 10 players who were targeted at least 10 teams, that ranked eighth. He was often criticized for drops during his time in College Park, and the numbers appear to back that up. His 8.0 yards per target figure ranked above Long, among others, but still ranked seventh out of those 10 players.
That's where Juwann Winfree comes in. The former four-star recruit will be a sophomore in 2015, and is the overwhelming favorite to replace Leak in the starting lineup. He caught 11 of 14 targets as a true freshman last season (trailing only Wes Brown among the top 10 targeted receivers), and led the team with an astonishing 11.3 yards per target. Small sample size, sure, but Stefon Diggs checked in at 8.4 (and Levern Jacobs at 9.0 in 2013).
There's a reason Winfree was so highly-touted coming out of high school (he picked Maryland over Georgia, Michigan and Michigan State, among others). The 6'2, 210-pound receiver has the size to compete with some of the Big Ten's bigger defensive backs and the speed to absolutely burn defenders once he gets the ball. He showed that in spurts last season, and now has a perfect opportunity to shine with a more pass-friendly quarterback throwing him the ball (be it Caleb Rowe or Daxx Garman).
You can watch just about all 11 of those catches, including both touchdown grabs, in this short highlight video made after last season.