These are the most worrisome areas for 2014 in my opinion.

Special Teams: We are still looking for a punter two seasons after Hershey departed. Our punters are inconsistent and field position was challenging against better teams. The place kicking and kickoff position seems settled now with Yadzani. He was stellar.
Kick off returners are tentative and returns were mostly lackluster. Punt returners had very few yards gained and there were numerous muffs. I don't think Daz has the acceleration to be a weapon and ball security is an issue with him.

Our kick off team was giving up too many yards early , but it was improved as the season progressed. Our punt team coverage is hard to evaluate since we had many short and shanked punts out of bounds. 

Secondary- Most of our positive stats were against very poor offensive teams. Tackling in the open field is atrocious. We did not have any corner that the opposition was afraid to attack. We are undersized. With Carrie graduating we are faced with finding leadership. Loss of Lorenzo Fisher for off season violations took away our best tackler. Returning CB Jamil Shaw was ineffective against the run and may have had lingering injury problems.

My burning image is our DB's chasing receivers down the field with their back to the passer and everyone in the stands yelling "TURN AROUND!". 
Those instances usually resulted in Interference calls, a catch by the opponent or the ball hitting our DB in the back!

Sorry to vent but these are areas holding back our program. New coaches not matching their predecessors in these two areas.
 

And, does anyone else notice the move toward pro style QBs and BIG RBs?  Even teams running multiple formation like the pistol and I, shotgun and I, etc?   

Got a verbal from a JUCO punter today.....something like a 45 yard average in 2013.....not too shabby.

Concededly, Ohio has had some fine DBs in recent years. To me, though, the best Ohio defensive backfield during the last 15 or so seasons was one including Tevell Jones, Dennis Fitzgerald, Brandon Cade and Sean Williams. Jones was marvellously athletic and is among Ohio's career leader in picks. Fitzgerald with his hard hits used to scare the bejabbers out of opponents' WRs.

There has been more turnover in DB coaches than at any other position except maybe DL. It started in 2005 with Fred Reed, but he moved to the NFL so David Brown took over from 2006 to 2008. Then Brown took a head coaching job in Rolla, and Reed returned from 2009 to 2012.

Would love to see Patterson and Cochran returning kicks this year.   However, currently WR's do not return kicks.  Seems strange that our fastest player is not permitted to return kicks.  

I agree with you.  That was my basic thinking behind Cochran at KR.  I saw where he was a KR in HS... However, he only had like 4 returns but 2 of them were for TD's  Don't know if teams just did not kick to him or if he only returned kicks part time.  Still, that's way too much speed to have on the sidelines in my opinion.  

Devin Bass not a D1 kick returner?? I assume you paid no attention to Ohio football this year because he was leading the conference for awhile.

I agree that he did a good job as a kick returner, but Devin Bass has also quietly done a lot of very good things for the Bobcats. Watch that Daz kick off return again. Who is his personal escort, quietly taking the last two defenders out of the action, making sure Daz remains untouched? Who caught Yaz's onside kickoff against ECU? He also has great technique as a tackler, and doesn't try to blow up ball carriers, but quietly and cleanly takes them down. He's definitely become an asset for the Bobcats.

Mark Stubbs instead of Williams. He was the backup.

This should have been a banner year returning kicks given how much in-game experience we were getting. (ba-dum- pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh).

I'll be here all week.