You are more concerned with defending Johnson or the option from anything that is even slightly a negative against it that it blinds you.
The fact is the OL we had last year had injuries. That played a part. Whether you want to or not that is saying that the players we had playing weren't good enough, and injuries forced us to play them. Regardless of the reason behind it you are still admitting that the players not being good enough was a reason.
Second, the fact is OL play is predicated on muscle memory and repetitions, and the previous offense didn't get the OL the reps they needed or build the muscle memory they needed to have success in the current offense. Sorry, but the lack of an OL with experience in the current system was a huge issue last year, and is still a significant factor this year. For some, they just aren't a good fit and likely won't ever be. For others it's just a matter that they need the reps and experience that were lacking. The latter are more likely to be playing last year and this, and this year they are better because they have more of what they were lacking. That is still an issue directly related to the transition.
Two of our starters started 11 and 12 games last year. They are better this year because they got some of the reps and experience in this system that they weren't able to before. Two others are a a transfer who wasn't here last year and a true freshman that wasn't here last year. So yeah, both of those things deal with the issue of the transition. One, taking players who needed time before they were ready to play getting more time, and new faces coming in and replacing players that were worse fits. It's telling that we are much better in part because we're playing a true freshman at tackle.
The realty is the transition played a huge role in our struggles last year and continues to this year. Last year we had a QB recruited for a completely different offense and his skill set showed that. This year we have a QB recruited specifically for this offense and we've seen significant improvement. It's not a coincidence. However, we're still having to play a true freshman, and the issues that come with that, because we don't have a junior or senior QB with a skill set fit for this offense who has experience in the offense. That is directly related to the transition.
The previous offense didn't have TEs at all. We now have TEs and, when healthy, relying on true sophomores, freshmen, or converted long snappers. That is directly a result of the transition of offenses.