According to this qualification, we need to define “following daas Torah” as being “m’vatel daas”, meaning following it even when disagreeing. If a guy follows his rebbeim 90% of the time, but the other 10% not, because he doesn’t agree on those matters, he can’t really be said to be following daas Torah.
I think you are combining two distinct categories. Some people don’t respect the rabbi on anything other than saying what the Shulchan Aruch says. Other people respect the rabbi tremendously, even in non-halachic matters, but don’t go so far as to be mevatel da’as when they have strong reason to believe the rabbi is wrong. There is a big difference between these two categories which manifests itself in situations where the person does not have his own strong evidence. The second person will follow the rabbi whereas the first person won’t.