Toledo head coach Jason Candle has filled out his full-time staff for the 2023 season.

Stanton Weber has been hired as the special teams coordinator, joining defensive line coach Larry Knight as the staff’s new hires. 

Weber was most recently a special teams analyst at South Carolina, which had the sixth-highest special teams grade of the season as calculated by Pro Football Focus.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer, the son of former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer, whose special teams units were known for “Beamer Ball,” emphasizes the unit. In 2022, South Carolina special teams coach Pete Lembo was named a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, which goes to the nation’s top assistant coach.

The Gamecocks, with input from Weber, finished second nationally in blocked punts, third in blocked kicks and punt returns, sixth in kickoff returns, and fifth in net punting.

Kicker Mitch Jeter did not miss a field goal, and punter Kai Kroeger was named a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award for the nation’s top punter.

Toledo was second-to-last in the country in PFF’s special teams rankings.

Prior to South Carolina, Weber was a graduate assistant and special teams quality control coach at his alma mater, Kansas State, where he was a wide receiver and special teams ace.

In 2020, Kansas State blocked the first punt in each of the first three games and led the country in blocked punts. The Wildcats were second nationally in punt return yardage.

In 2019, Kansas State broke the single-season record for kickoff-return average (29.5 yards).

First Published January 26, 2023, 2:32 p.m.