I think we should separate safety/nickel and CB play.
The safety and nickel personnel, coaching, and productivity were baffling and poor. Of all my qualms with Grinch, the performance of the unit he was directly responsible for was the greatest. Turner-Yell was serviceable, but Pat Fields, Justin Broiles, and Bookie were overmatched for their responsibilities.
This was obvious at the time. Understanding that, Grinch had a few choices: change responsibilities, change personnel, or improve current personnel. We saw none of these changes. We saw the same unit go out there and make the same errors week after week, season after season. Maddening.
Compared to that fiasco, CB position was relatively improved vs the Mike Stoops era (a very low bar). OU CB were middle of the pack for B12 team, meaning they weren't horrid like the S/NB, just underperfoming. CB coach Manning recruited relatively well making the persistent subpar performance of this group frustrating for a slightly different reason.
McCutchin's an interesting case study. As I understand it, Bama commit, got hurt, and Bama drops him. OU gets him betting his athleticism will be preserved, and it is. I rewatched the OU-Nebraska game a couple of weeks ago. McCutchin is RIDICULOUSLY lost many times. How much is it on Manning for not getting him in the right position, not knowing McC is lost, and how much is it on McCutchin for running in circles?
The great thing is that WE WILL LEARN. Manning is going to likely bring Domani Jackson (top 10 player nationally) and 2 other top 200 players at CB (Florence and Ross) this year to USC. It'll be interesting to watch their progress.
The reason I'm surprised OU's taking portal DBs is that there are players who have looked okay in limited run who'd I'd like to see more of before tossing them aside. Eaton wasn't as lost as McCutchin (but got less playing time). I wonder if Bowman is going to play offense, but he was definitely better than Broiles at NB. Criddell, Washington, Dennis? We just don't know.