I don't begrudge a coach for taking his best players and putting them on the field, even if the player being bumped is a decent player who has put in his time. I just hope that the coach simple does it earlier, instead of giving the older player too many chances.
Heck, I remember in the Lou Holtz era, where that secondary was a big mess in 1990. The starting lineup at the beginning of the year was:
SS: Greg Davis
FS: George Poorman
BCB: Todd Lyght
FCB: Rod Smith
Lyght did everything he could, and did put forth a good season, despite battling a nasty thigh bruise for most of the year.
Smith simply wasn't ready, and didn't "get it" until the next year.
Greg Davis was "consistent," but his talent limits were pretty evident, and 1991, Lou shifted him to nickel.
George Poorman was flat-out terrible. The fact that he was blind in one eye made for terrible depth perception, and during game time, it definitely showed. He did very well in practice, because he knew the tendencies of his teammates, and he was a favorite of Gary Darnell's, but against the opposition, he got burnt on a regular basis. To prevent any further damage, in 1991, Lou shifted him to quarterback (I'm not joking, either), where there was no chance of his playing due to Mirer, Failla, and McDougal all being there.
At the end of the year, Tom Carter had basically taken over the FCB spot, occasionally relieving Lyght at the BCB position, and Jeff Burris had taken over the FS spot, despite being true freshmen, and the improvement to the defense was significant.
I've always pointed out how Ricky Watters and his punt return fumbles gave Stanford the win that year, and I'll always stand by that statement. However, George Poorman constantly getting burnt badly by Ed McCaffery and whiffing on so many attempted tackles of Tommy Vardell didn't exactly help out that defense that made Jason Palumbis look like the second coming of John Elway that day... This is one of those times I wish Lou had simply yanked him right there and then during the game.
Lou should have given Poorman the hook much earlier.