Keep in mind how suspect Schlegel looked early on in this season. I wasn't happy about him being our 3rd LB at all once Mike went down. Had Mike played this whole season, I think he would have improved even more than Schlegel did.
I still don't understand disregarding Clarett. Sure if he had stayed we would have been a lot better off, but it was actually the failures of Lydell Ross that truly hurt the most. Ross should have been an average sub and instead was very mediocre. If you want to find a guy to rate lowly in this type of analysis, I'd go with him.
You also have to realize you're evaluating those other classes after the fact (I know you admitted your view could change based on this year, but I'm gonna argue anyway
). Will Allen, while he made a few big plays, was not a star until his senior year.
And as for the evaluation of Smith, I seem to remember him helping to turn around a hapless team and barely lose a tough game to Purdue (which was much more the fault of unlucky bounces and poor work by Snyder). Sure you can argue that he had some luxuries that Zwick didn't, but the fact was Smith came in and turned things around. Whether that was 10% him or 50% him, it doesn't matter. He brought confidence to a team that had none. If he had finished out the Alamo Bowl with a stronger performance surely than what we saw from a gimpy Zwick, we would be raving about his talents.
Everett and Whitner will both be starting in the secondary at the same time unless someone comes on strong.