No decision has been made yet on attackman Matt Rambo's status for No. 10 Maryland's season opener against Navy on Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Terps coach John Tillman said during his weekly conference call Tuesday morning that Rambo, a sophomore who returns as the team's leading scorer (30 goals and six assists last season), still has to complete some obligations before he can play in games.
"Right now, I can't really say whether he will or will not be," Tillman said of Rambo's availability for Saturday. "A lot of that will be determined in the next few days or so. We're fully prepared to play without him. That's how we're approaching this thing. If he meets the standards, whenever he meets the standards and expectations, we can sit down and have that conversation with him. He has not played yet. He hasn't completed the things he needs to complete. So we'll just see how things go and see if he can take care of business."
Rambo has been practicing with the team, but he has not participated in scrimmages due to his involvement an incident on Oct. 22 in College Park. Rambo was indefinitely suspended after being charged with first- and second-degree assault and malicious destruction of property. The incident also led to the dismissal of student assistant coach Brian Cooper.
First-degree assault charges against Rambo and Cooper were dismissed in November. But second-degree assault and destruction of property charges are still pending.
"He's still got to fulfill some requirements for me and for what we've asked him to do," Tillman said. "He's continuing to progress in that regard. When we feel comfortable, he'll get back on the field. Like I said before, he's definitely paid a significant price on a lot of levels. What we do in-house is something that we don't talk a lot about and I don't think it's something that everybody needs to know. … He's been separated from his team, he's had to do a lot of community-service hours, and we've put a lot of things on him because I felt like he wasn't representing this program or the university or the athletic department in the right way. It's a teachable moment and when you make poor decisions, there's consequences, and we take that very seriously."
If Rambo is held out against Navy (1-0), the starting attack will likely feature senior Jay Carlson (26 goals and five assists in 2014), sophomore and Syracuse transfer Dylan Maltz (3, 1) and a rotation including juniors David Goodwin and Ian Robertson and sophomore Lucas Gradinger.
"All those guys have done a pretty good job so far, and we're just trying to figure out how the pieces best fit together and who's been the most consistent and who deserves to get the bulk of the playing time," Tillman said. "I think you might see a little bit of everything."