Anthony Morales (born August 27, 1990) is a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

American football linebacker. Morales played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Weber State University Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founded ...

from 2009 to 2013. Morales was signed by the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

on July 24, 2014, and was subsequently waived on August 25, 2014.

College career

Morales attended

, starting in 2009 and finished his collegiate career in 2013. He sat out the 2009 season as a red shirt in February 2009. In 2010, he played 10 games as a

Redshirt Freshman Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

and started in one game. He recorded 19 total tackles during the 2010 season. As a sophomore in 2011, he started in 11 games for the Wildcats receiving an Honorable Mention in the Big Sky All-Conference honors at linebacker, he record 115 total tackles during his 2011 sophomore season. As a Junior in 2012, Morales served as one of the team captains and started in 9 of the 11 games during the season. He earned Second-team Big Sky All-Conference honors at linebacker totaling 108 tackles for the season. In the 2013 Senior year, Morals was named to the Big Sky All-Conference Third-team recording 100 total tackles in his final year of eligibility. He finished his career at Weber State as one of the top linebackers in school history. He served as a defensive captain for three-strait years, playing in 40 career games and totaling 342 career tackles which rank fifth in school history.

Professional career

Morales was signed by the

on July 24, 2014. After Morales signed his two-year contract with the Carolina Panthers he stated "I'm on the 90-man roster and I've got to make the cut, so I'll be in the preseason games and then after the third one, they do the cut to 55 and then after the last game, they go down to 53," Morales said." he Panthershave 10 linebackers, including myself."It was weird because I was actually enrolling into Weber (on Tuesday) and then my agent called me and said, 'Pack up, you're a Carolina Panther.' It was kind of ironic; I still have two classes left to graduate, so I was just going to go back to Weber for this semester.". Morales played in a preseason game during the 2014 season. He was subsequently waived on August 25, 2014.

Personal life

On January 8, 2015, Morales was charged with aggravated assault and battery for allegedly breaking the jaw of Yankees pitching prospect

Ty Hensley Michael Tyler Hensley (born July 30, 1993) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. Hensley was a first round selection of the New York Yankees in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft. Early life and amateur ca ...

in what was described by Oklahoma authorities as an argument about signing bonuses. The alleged incident occurred on December 28, 2014, in which the charging document filed by the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office says Morales repeatedly kicked Hensley in the face "resulting in a fractured jaw and broken teeth" at a home near

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

. Morales states that he was simply acting in self-defense.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Anthony 1990 births Living people Carolina Panthers players NFL Free agent currentteam parameter articles Weber State Wildcats football players Players of American football from Oklahoma American football linebackers Edmond Memorial High School alumni