Leaks was the first black All-American player in University of Texas at Austin history and went on to play in the NFL for the Baltimore Colts and Buffalo Bills.

[2] He was also the clean-up-hitting outfielder for the school's baseball team, helping Brenham win its first Class AAA state championship in that sport in 1970.

He earned All-Southwest Conference honors as a running back and helped Texas to a 10–1 regular season record and a #7 ranking, then a win over #4 Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.

Texas went 8–3 in 1973 and won another Southwest Conference title and were ranked eighth, but lost the Cotton Bowl 19–3 to #12 Nebraska and finished fourteenth.

Following his success, Leaks was an early Heisman favorite for the 1974 season, but suffered a serious injury in spring drills when he leaped into the air and another player's helmet hit his knee.

The #11 Longhorns lost 27–3 to #6 Auburn in the Gator Bowl, in which Leaks did not play, and fell to seventeenth in the final poll.

After the 1979 season, he was waived by Baltimore and picked up by the Buffalo Bills, where he spent four years carrying the ball and blocking for Joe Cribbs.

[4] Leaks and his wife had been working in the real estate business for several years before his football career ended and he transitioned into it full-time.