A repeat first-team pick, Wales fell short of the state record for career rushing yards but helped Central to the Class 3-A state title.
The 5-foot-10, 183-pounder missed almost two full games with injuries and still ran for 2,784 yards and 40 touchdowns.
âHeâs special,â Central coach Ty Scroggins said. âOver his career, he proved to me and I think to a lot of people in the state of Kentucky that he should have been Mr. Football. He has meant more to our program than a lot of other players that came through it, including (Kentucky players) Ridge (Wilson) and Tim (Patterson).â
Wales finished with 8,213 yards, just 12 behind Fort Knoxâs Derek Homer for second place all-time in Kentucky.
Wales did a lot of his damage against Class 6-A teams â 230 yards and three TDs against St. Xavier, 230 and one TD against Ballard and 191 and 3 TDs against Pleasure Ridge Park.
As a junior, Wales rushed for a Jefferson County-record 2,994 yards with 40 TDs. His 123 career TDs ranks second in the state behind the 138 of Lexington Christianâs Domonique Hayden.
Wales is still uncommitted. He has officially visited Louisville and is expected to visit Kentucky in January. Heâs also talking to Western Kentucky and had been interested in Illinois.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2...ck-Central
Committed to U of L via Central coach on Facebook.
Central High School running back Anthony Wales made a visit to Kentucky over the weekend and was scheduled to make a trip to Western Kentucky on Friday.
But on Monday, Wales said he "knew where he wanted to go."
The state's third all-time leading rusher committed to the University of Louisville, picking the Cardinals over Kentucky and Western Kentucky.
"I want to be the face of Louisville football," Wales said. "Two weeks ago, I told coach (Charlie) Strong and coach (Vance) Bedford I was pretty sure I wanted to go to Louisville but I had to see Kentucky and make sure it was the right place for me.
"I am just excited to get it over with and be a Cardinal."
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2...t|Sports|s
May he have a phenomenal, record-breaking, statistical career in which he never wins a single game.
EKUAlum05 Wrote:May he have a phenomenal, record-breaking, statistical career in which he never wins a single game.
:hilarious: :hilarious: :hilarious: :hilarious: that's great
congrats to Wales
I should have got his autograph when I had the chance
i talked to a Central fan at BG the night b4 the finals , thats knows him well and he told me, he was almost 100 that the Ville is where is was going then..
Good catch for the Cards, I really wanted to see him in the blue/white.
Congrats Ace.
Ended up signing with WKU.
Charlie Strong supposedly did him dirty, and UK respectfully bowed out of his recruitment.
Now I wish Wales a ton of success and record breaking stats.... with more wins than Louisville will see.
EKUAlum05 Wrote:Ended up signing with WKU.
Charlie Strong supposedly did him dirty, and UK respectfully bowed out of his recruitment.
Now I wish Wales a ton of success and record breaking stats.... with more wins than Louisville will see.
That's a win-win for all parties involved. If Strong is doing Louisville Central players dirty, it will be that much harder for him to recruit that school in the future. UK should continue to milk the Central pipeline for all it is worth.
Plus...I can now root for him to do well.
I wondered why he didn't appear on the UL signee list, what did happen?
How exactly did Charlie Strong do him dirty?
Iam4thecats Wrote:How exactly did Charlie Strong do him dirty?
Everything is pointing to the fact that they pulled his offer and wouldn't accept his commitment. Wales even went as far as to say he wanted to be the face of Louisville Cardinal football. Apparently once he was injured in the State Finals UL essentially backed off him and stopped making contact, no explanation given.
UK met with him and offered a greyshirt so he could rehab his shoulder. Wales took the smartest route and went where he wouldn't have to wait.
Hope he comes back 100%.
This is what went down and happened.
When Wales committed to the Cards, he did so on the same day as Miami, FL RB Brandon Radcliff. UofL recruiting experts say that Wales sat on his scholarship offer to Louisville for two years before pulling the trigger – and it just so happened to be on the same day as another tailback. Needless to say, this forced Strong and company into the issue of ‘which kid do you really want’, which you solve by ignoring one player and giving the other lots of love. Thanks partially to a shoulder injury, Wales took a backseat to Radcliff in Coach Strong’s mind. Word on the street is that Wales no longer felt wanted at UofL. And by the street, I mean the internet. That place where all us recruiting nerds hang out and do stuff in our boxers all day like Drew Franklin.
UK once recruited Wales, but it became apparent that he was a Cards fan at heart and wanted to stay home and play for them. Unfortunately, no one wants to be somewhere they aren’t wanted, so Wales jumped ship to WKU. Several other in-state kids have apparently felt spurned by Coach Strong by his relentless pursuit of Florida players, as well. From Bridgewater to Radcliff, Louisville’s core has become full of Sunshine state boys.
It seems the high school players in Louisville are not happy about this. This is where the UK tie comes in. If Strong continues to brush off the in-state talent for the Florida players who aren’t reeled in by UF or Miami, then Strong’s reputation in the city of Louisville and state of Kentucky as a whole is going to plummet (hopefully fast). Don’t believe me? Take Wales’ word for it then:
“If you want to send the Florida players here to take over Louisville, we’re going to all go to WKU to take over” – Anthony ‘Ace’ Wales (via Adam Lefkoe)
Why dont you find out what your talking about before you flapping your jaws about something you have no clue about and say CS did him wrong. You have no idea what happen and you are far off on this one.
MTNS RULE Wrote:Why dont you find out what your talking about before you flapping your jaws about something you have no clue about and say CS did him wrong. You have no idea what happen and you are far off on this one.
Enlighten us then...I have read a handful of different accounts that essentially backup what West 80 said. Strong and UL essentially cut ties with Wales over his injury and refused his commitment.
If you can share with us a better account then what the media is reporting then we will all be eager to hear what it is.
WKU got a helluva steal in Wales. That's for certain.
I didn't make up what Wales said, it is from his mouth, not mine
EKUAlum05 Wrote:Ended up signing with WKU.
Charlie Strong supposedly did him dirty, and UK respectfully bowed out of his recruitment.
Now I wish Wales a ton of success and record breaking stats.... with more wins than Louisville will see.
thats good i will get to see him when he comes to jonesboro, but now i will get to see him lose against my team(Arkansas State) which he didnt do against my other team (Belfry),LOL, Cats still my team to..
That would have to have been something that Strong would have to have thought long and hard about doing - given the obvious potential for some unflattering publicity to come out of it. It's not the first time Strong has had to deal with this. Didn't something like this happen with the older Biven kid who ended up going to Murray state? IMHO - this damages if not burns a bridge between UL and Central, given that about six Central players signed with Campbellsville yesterday.
MTNS RULE Wrote:Why dont you find out what your talking about before you flapping your jaws about something you have no clue about and say CS did him wrong. You have no idea what happen and you are far off on this one.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/2...ext|Sports
Deja vu from a few years ago.
Different coach then but same team.
Brad Durham if Rockcastle County. Thank goodness he chose UK after the backhand UofL showed him. He ended up going 4-0 against Loserville.
Wales strung U of L along, They asked him to make his commitment public (3 different time lines) He didn't do it. They had to get a RB and as soon as Ratliff committed and wales got the word he came out with his "I want to be the face of the program" It was to late.At that point he was offered a gray shirt.I think Ace had bad advice from someone close to him, and with the Demarcus Smith fiasco last year its not hard to guess who. These guys want to play this recruiting publicity out, and unless you have 20 offers you better be careful.These coaches recruit for a living and get paid big money to do it,These high school coaches shouldn't put these kids in this spot because they enjoy the attention.UL had to move on a running back and they did.I think Ace will have a great year at Western and wish him luck. Side note..If your looking for any objective info on any athletic program in the state the CJ is the last place to go.Demling and Bozo are pure UK plants. Im a UK fan but don't hate the Cardinals. I want to read the truth not propaganda.
I hope Charlie keeps getting those Florida boys, because he has just about burned his bridges in Kentucky. I wouldn't send my dog to play for Charlie.
MTNS RULE Wrote:Wales strung U of L along, They asked him to make his commitment public (3 different time lines) He didn't do it. They had to get a RB and as soon as Ratliff committed and wales got the word he came out with his "I want to be the face of the program" It was to late.At that point he was offered a gray shirt.I think Ace had bad advice from someone close to him, and with the Demarcus Smith fiasco last year its not hard to guess who. These guys want to play this recruiting publicity out, and unless you have 20 offers you better be careful.These coaches recruit for a living and get paid big money to do it,These high school coaches shouldn't put these kids in this spot because they enjoy the attention.UL had to move on a running back and they did.I think Ace will have a great year at Western and wish him luck. Side note..If your looking for any objective info on any athletic program in the state the CJ is the last place to go.Demling and Bozo are pure UK plants. Im a UK fan but don't hate the Cardinals. I want to read the truth not propaganda.
Perhaps it was Coachdad...His silence is golden, isn't it??...lol
Perhaps Wales thought himself a little more important than what he actually is and maybe Strong just viewed him as a whiney primadonna.
adopted purple Wrote:I hope Charlie keeps getting those Florida boys, because he has just about burned his bridges in Kentucky. I wouldn't send my dog to play for Charlie.
Dont think for a second that if Joker could get em, he'd do the same thing.
UK fans might cry "we want Kentucky boys", but when it comes to wins and losses, those same fans will crucify Joker if he looses with Kentucky boys and sing his praises if he wins with Florida boys. It's all about winning.
Who's Landon Slone? Pretty much the UK basketball battle cry when it comes to Calipari now, isn't it?
Bob Seger Wrote:Perhaps it was Coachdad...His silence is golden, isn't it??...lol
Perhaps Wales thought himself a little more important than what he actually is and maybe Strong just viewed him as a whiney primadonna.
MTNS RULE Wrote:Wales strung U of L along, They asked him to make his commitment public (3 different time lines) He didn't do it. They had to get a RB and as soon as Ratliff committed and wales got the word he came out with his "I want to be the face of the program" It was to late.At that point he was offered a gray shirt.I think Ace had bad advice from someone close to him, and with the Demarcus Smith fiasco last year its not hard to guess who. These guys want to play this recruiting publicity out, and unless you have 20 offers you better be careful.These coaches recruit for a living and get paid big money to do it,These high school coaches shouldn't put these kids in this spot because they enjoy the attention.UL had to move on a running back and they did.I think Ace will have a great year at Western and wish him luck. Side note..If your looking for any objective info on any athletic program in the state the CJ is the last place to go.Demling and Bozo are pure UK plants. Im a UK fan but don't hate the Cardinals. I want to read the truth not propaganda.
Wales basically over valued his self IMO!!! If your a Lamar Dawson, James Quick, or Mike Bush yeah you can wait until national signing day to committe, but Basically Wales played himself. Wales had an offer for 2 YEARS and UofL offered him a grey shirt still just as UK did. If he truly wanted to be a Card he had 2 years to pull trigger. If your not a blue chip player you better take your offer when you get it. Such as the Bowles and Manley did. Towles was a 4 star player and he committed to UK before national signing day.
As for Smith UofL NEVER pulled his offer he opened his recuritment and then committed to UCF. Then I think he opened it up and then recommitted to
UofL.