New North Texas coach Dan McCarney is set to hire former NFL veteran defensive end Anthony Weaver as the Mean Green's new linebackers coach, according to a source.

Weaver spent the 2010 season as a graduate assistant at Florida alongside McCarney after playing four seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and three with the Houston Texans before retiring last spring.

Weaver was born in Abilene but graduated high school in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and went on to a successful college career at Notre Dame. The Ravens made him their second-round draft pick in 2002. He eventually started 98 of 103 NFL games played, finishing with 257 tackles, 15 ½ sacks, five forced fumbles and three interceptions.

When Weaver's hire becomes official in the next day or two, McCarney should have one opening left on his staff for a running backs coach. Footballscoop.com reported McCarney had spoken to former Iowa State running back and Northern Iowa running backs coach Atif Austin - now head coach at Tarpon Springs (Fla.) High School - but Austin was still employed there and on the campus as of Thursday morning. He said in an e-mail he was not joining McCarney's staff.

Weaver joined Florida's staff as a graduate assistant upon his retirement. Urban Meyer, who resigned as Florida's coach in the last week, recruited Weaver to Notre Dame when Meyer was an assistant with the Fighting Irish.

Weaver will be the second former NFL veteran to work at North Texas in the past year. Former Tampa Bay offensive lineman Kenyatta Walker was hired as a graduate assistant by Todd Dodge and remains on the current staff as of this week.

Linebacker has been a strength position for UNT despite overall deficiencies on defense. Senior Craig Robertson was named to the 2010 all-Sun Belt Conference first team, and other recent standouts have included Tobe Nwigwe and Jeremy Phillips. True freshman Zach Orr is considered one of UNT's rising players at any position.