No one could have predicted what happened with Buford, Hardin and Johnson, yet the recruiting misses in 2013 and 2014 are partly to blame for why we are so thin at DB this year. I'm not sure how anyone can disagree with this.
2013 - We signed two DBs - Duke McGhee and Jaylen Myrick
- - This class has some big hits and big misses. We had Campbell, Wilson, Myrick (all going to play in the NFL multiple years). Wolitarsky, McGhee and Santoso (however you feel about giving scholarships to K/P). And then some duds.
2014 - This class was OK. We didn't recruit enough DBs and this definitely plays into our lack of depth.
- - The class has a lot of multi-year starters/contributors (Weyler, Mayes, Elmore, Poock, Lingen, Moore, Stetler) and a couple of our best players (Smith and Richardson).
Some of the issues with these classes are similar to the unpredictability.
I'll give you these points:
(1) Every bit of criticism to Kill and Co. regarding recruiting and developing WRs is 100% justified. They missed on them consistently;
(2) We did not recruit enough OL or enough DBs in these classes
However, some of the other issues could not have been planned for. Somehow you seem to be blaming Kill & Co for Weyler's injury and Connor Mayes leaving (then retiring). Those are just things that happen when you switch coaches, it's no one's fault and it's impossible to account for. Fleck likes to use a different kind of DE than the previous regime. That's cool, but it also made it tougher to play DE's like Elmore (who also left and shouldn't be part of the blame on the previous regime).
For me, the previous regime can be blamed for the quarterback situation, the WR situation (even though the last class seems to be their best) and the OL situation.
The secondary, IMO, is entirely because of the incident. If the situation that even you described "could not have been predicted" didn't happen, it would be the strongest position on the entire team.
CB: Hardin - K. Thomas
CB: Buford - Shenault
S: Winfield - Huff
S: McGhee - Johnson
That's a pretty good group.