Air Force brings back Taylor Stubblefield to fill vacancy at wide receivers coach

By Brent Briggeman March 8, 2023 | updated 3 years ago

Air Force wide receivers coach Taylor Stubblefield meets during a fourth quarter time-out during a 2019 game at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs. (Liz Copan, Special to The Gazette)

Air Force has filled its wide receivers coaching vacancy with someone who had previously held the role.

The team announced the re-hiring of Taylor Stubblefield on Wednesday. Stubblefield coached the Falcons’ receivers during the 2016 and ’17 seasons.

One of the best receivers in NCAA history, Stubblefield has coached in the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-12, among other stops and was most recently at Penn State.

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Stubblefield replaces Ari Confessor, who left for the same role at Wake Forest. Confessor had replaced Stubblefield following the 2017 season, when Stubblefield left for the same role at Miami (Fla.).

Confessor then moved to Penn State after one season with the Hurricanes and served as the Nittany Lions receivers coach for three seasons, adding the offensive recruiting coordinator role this past year.

During his playing career at Purdue, Stubblefield was a consensus All-American in 2004. He remains the Big Ten’s all-time leader in receptions (316) and is second with 3,629 yards. His receptions were the most in NCAA history when he left college. Stubblefield then had professional stints with the Carolina Panthers and St. Louis Rams as well as the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League.

The wide receiver position has, at this point, been the only coaching spot to turn over for Air Force football during this offseason. The Falcons went 10-3 this past season, beating Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl. The Falcons have won 10 or more games in each of their past three full seasons.