Two years ago, Marlon Smith and Ben Luber walked onto campus and were looked to as the backcourt of the future for the Penn State men's basketball team.

Last year, both players saw their Nittany Lion careers derailed. Luber took a leave of absence from the team early in the season to deal with personal issues, missing five games; Smith missed the final 17 games of the season after collapsing during practice, apparently as a result of a blockage of an artery in the brain.

Now Smith's career in State College is done.

Smith's departure from the team was announced in a statement released by the university on Friday.

"Marlon has decided to leave Penn State," coach Ed DeChellis said in the statement. "He indicated that he felt like he needed a change and we will support him in his decision."

The move was one of three made in recent weeks by the Nittany Lions. The team also announced the signing of European guard Nikola Obradovic, from Serbia and Montenegro, to a letter of intent on Friday. In addition, the program said June 21 that former standout point guard Danny Earl was returning to the fold as an assistant coach.

Friday's statement did not indicate a specific reason why Smith decided to leave the university.

DeChellis and Smith could not be reached yesterday for further comment.

Smith was the first player DeChellis recruited to Penn State upon being named head coach two years ago.

He's also the first DeChellis recruit to leave the program. Eight players have departed since DeChellis took over, most notably current Wisconsin guard Sharif Chambliss and forward Aaron Johnson, who announced he was headed to New Mexico after last season.

Smith averaged 13.4 points per game as a freshman and was looked at as one of the cornerstones of the program. He also played well in the first 13 games of his sophomore campaign, averaging 11.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

He then collapsed during a Jan. 7 practice and was eventually taken to Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, where he remained for nearly a week before being released.

DeChellis and his staff will look to Obradovic, who has experience at both guard positions, to pick up some of the slack. He was named most valuable player in his junior league in Belgrade, and he led his team to the national championships.

Obradovic is the sixth freshman to sign to with the program for the upcoming season. He joins countryman Milos Bogetic, who is already attending classes at Penn State.

Earl's hiring reunites DeChellis, then a Penn State assistant coach, and Earl, the leader of the Lions' successful teams in the mid-1990s.

Earl was the starting point guard on Penn State's 1995-96 squad that won 19 of its first 21 games and was ranked as high as ninth in the country.

He replaces James Johnson, now the lead assistant coach at George Mason University.

Earl, who recently retired after playing professionally in Europe for six years, said he was looking forward to his return to State College.

"I'm ecstatic," Earl was quoted as saying in last Wednesday's editions of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg. "It's unbelievable. I'm so happy to be back up here."