COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- One of the two Maryland players involved in a fight at the end of practice earlier this week has not returned to the team since the altercation, interim head coach Matt Canada said Saturday.
Canada said he wasn't sure if or when Matt Barber, a senior kicker from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, would rejoin the team.
"He has not been around," Canada told reporters after the Terrapins' 24-3 loss to Michigan State. "Whenever I see Matt Barber, we'll see where he wants to be as far as being on the team."
The University of Maryland's police department has opened an investigation into the Tuesday altercation between Barber and punter Wade Lees. Barber previously told ESPN that he needed stitches above his right eye and suffered a dislocated right shoulder after Lees, of Melbourne, Australia, assaulted him.
The fight happened on the same day head coach DJ Durkin returned to the team after a months-long suspension following the death of 19-year-old Terrapins lineman Jordan McNair. Durkin's reinstatement was met with outrage from many, including McNair's parents, some Maryland players and the state's governor. University president Wallace D. Loh, who did not support the regents' decision to reinstate Durkin, met with various campus leaders Wednesday before announcing Durkin had been fired.
Canada has said the altercation had nothing to do with Durkin and that Barber had decided to leave the program.
Canada and Maryland didn't make any players available to the media following Saturday's game, saying, "They're going to be available to talk on Tuesday. ... There's a lot going on, but right now for us, we just lost a football game."
Lees finished the game with eight punts for an average of 45 yards, including three that landed inside the 20. His 67-yard-punt in the third quarter was a career high.