Lotta hubris in the last page
The defense was frustrating to watch last year and I think that's clouding some people's judgment. Those frustrating moments stand out and people just assume we can fix those problems while ignoring the stuff the defense did right. Boyd was boom or bust (mostly bust) in coverage, but he was really good against the run and playing screen passes. People (myself included) are optimistic about Cook as a coverage corner, but how will he do on the couple of sweeps and screens he'll face each game? Omenihu wasn't just a great player, he was also really clutch. If we end up in a Baylor situation next year, who do we trust to get pressure and force a bad throw on the final down?
Just because a bunch of these new guys were highly ranked recruits doesn't mean anything. Even in great recruiting classes, only half of a class (usually less) will become quality starters. The numbers game is not on our side here. At least a couple of the guys y'all are mentioning are going to disappoint. That's the nature of sports and being human. It think it's safe to expect improvement at a couple of spots (Hager, BLB, S), but improvement at any other positions shouldn't be taken for granted.
The take that Shark/Ossai is better than Wheeler/Johnson is the perfect example of a desperate attempt to justify an end result. Ossai doesn't even play ILB. It's a nonsense comparison. It's like saying CB will be better because of Overshown. Just not an honest evaluation of the situation. I feel like a lot of fans are falling victim to confirmation bias in regards to their belief that the defense will improve.
Plus, the elephant in the room is that several our defense's poor performances were not the players' faults. We had a couple poor game plans and the staff put players in bad positions several times as well. Roach, Hager, and Locke all played out of position (which admittedly was out of necessity). Now we've got McCulloch at rover and Foster at NB. Again it's kind of necessary, but while both players are talented, I think it's fair to question whether those are their best positions. Great players might not have great performances if they are playing a position they're not best suited for. Plus, in both 2017 and 2018, it took TO and the staff several games to figure out our best lineups and maximize our talent. That was working with upperclassmen that had game tape to review. Now we have a lot of sophomores, several of which haven't even played meaningful D1 snaps.
I hate how dismissive some people are being about our defensive concerns. I think we should expect growing pains next year. I'm guessing the defense will probably be about the same as this year. A couple of really good performances, a couple really bad performances.