Page 52 - Toledo Football Media Guide

JasonCandle enters his fourth season on the Rockets’ staf and his frst as UT’s ofensive coordinator.

As the receivers coach the past three seasons, Candle mentored one of the most decorated receivers in Rocket his-tory, Eric Page. Page caught 306 passes in his career, the most ever by a Division I-BCS receiver in three seasons. A three-time All-MAC player, Page broke virtually every UT receiving record and tied the Mid-American Conference record for ca-reer receptions.

The success of UT’s receiving corps helped propel the Rockets to back-to-back bowl appearances in 2010 and 2011. In 2010, the Rockets went 8-5 and made their frst bowl appearance in fve

seasons. Page caught 99 passes and was a frst-team All-MAC honoree at wide receiver, earning All-America honors at kick-of return, as well.

In 2011, the Rockets went 9-4 and won their frst bowl game in six years, a 42-41 victory over Air Force in the Military Bowl. Sophomore wide receiver Bernard Reedy caught three touchdown passes and was named the game’s MVP. Page caught a school-record 125 passes for the season and once again earned frst-team All-MAC honors.

In 2009, Candle coached the slot receivers and tight ends. He helped guide Page to an outstanding freshman season. Page led the nation in receptions (82) and yardage (1,159) by a freshman and was named frst-team Freshman All-America by Phil Steele and the College Football News.

Candle has earned some national accolades of his own. In 2010 he was named one of the top recruiters in the nation by Rivals.com. He was one of only nine coaches in the country from non-automatic BCS qualifying conferences to be named to the list and the only coach from the Mid-American Confer-ence. Candle also was named the Mid-American Conference “Recruiter of the Year” by Scout.com in both 2011 and 2012.

Toledo’s 2011 recruiting class was ranked No. 1 in the MAC by both Scout.com and Rivals.com.

Candle joined the Rockets’ staf in 2009 after spending both his playing and coaching career under head coach Larry Kehres at Mount Union. In Candle’s six years as an assistant at Mount Union, the Purple Raiders went 83-4 and won NCAA Division III national championships in 2005, 2006 and 2008. The 2003 and 2007 teams lost in the national championship game.

A 2003 Mount Union graduate, Can-dle was an All-Ohio Athletic Conference frst-team selection in 2001 as he led the team in receptions (41), yards receiving (778) and touchdowns (9). He was a key member of the 2000 and 2001 national championship teams and fnished his career with 57 grabs for 1,037 yards and 11 scores.

Candle began his coaching career at Mount Union in 2003 as the receivers coach. In the 2004 and 2005 seasons, heworked with current Rocket head coach Matt Campbell, who was the Purple Raiders’ ofensive coordinator at the time. Candle took over the post of ofensive coordinator in 2007, and also as-sumed the duties as the program’s recruiting coordinator. In Candle’s two seasons as ofensive coordinator, the Purple Raiders went 29-1, winning the national championship in 2008 and fnishing as runners-up in 2007. Mount Union of-fensive players earned nine All-American honors in Candle’s two seasons running the ofense. QB Greg Micheli was hon-ored in 2008 with the Gagliardi Trophy, given annually to the best NCAA Division III player in the nation. Candle also helped guide two Purple Raider receivers to All-American status dur-ing his time as the receivers coach from 2003-08. One of those All-American receivers, Pierre Garcon, is a starting wide receiv-er for the Washington Redskins. The other was Cecil Shorts, a fourth-round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011.

Page 52 - Toledo Football Media Guide - 2012

Page 52 - Toledo Football Media Guide - 2012