1. The QB play the last couple of years has been spotty at best, and the offense overall has been terrible. Sure the receivers bear some responsibility, but I think these receivers could have produced more with a different offense and QB. It was painful to watch QBs missing Johan Trinniman as he had several steps on his guy streaking down the field the last two years. BTW, I think Jonah has a legit chance of sticking in the NFL.
2. As a group they were young. Bushman had a great freshman year (did live up to the unbelievable hype? no, but a very good year for a freshman) and the future looks bright for him. I like what I have seen out of Simon and Hifo. I think Pau has shown flashes of great athleticism. I think MLP has good athleticism too. In the right system productivity goes up for this group.
3. There is solid talent coming in: Dylan Collie has been productive at Hawaii--athletically he isn't on the same plain as Austin but you get the hands, the routes and the toughness that you get out of all Collies. Gunner Romney and Hank Tuipulotu are well regarded recruits.
4. On the 2006 team there were a lot of guys that got early playing time because of the attrition and inconsistency of the upperclassmen in 2003 to 2005. I think they benefited from it a lot, and couldn't have been as successful without it.