Are the 3 idiots in the Recruitment arc the same ones in the beginning of the series?

Question

In the recruitment arc, there are 3 idiots that resemble closely the school bullies in the beginning of the series.

Wikipedia lists them as the 3 new idiots:

New 3 Idiots (新３バカ?)

Voiced by: Ryosuke Kanemoto (Kōda), Ryohei Arai (Saotome), Yusuke Handa (Hinoe) A Trio of C-Class agents who were seemingly made to believe that Arashiyama Unit has no real strength. They're frequently trying to show off, but get constantly beaten up. According to Replica, they seem like idiots. The credits give them the surnames: Kōda (甲田), Saotome (早乙女), and Hinoe (丙) in the anime.

and right below lists the old 3 idiots^link:

3 Idiots (３バカ?)

Voiced by: Mitsuo Iwata (No. 1), Kōta Nemoto (No. 2) and Hiroaki Miura (No. 3) A trio of bullies from Osamu and Yūma's classroom. They bully Osamu and Yūma at first, but start fearing them after they find out Osamu is a Border agent and after Yūma scares them away.

Their seyuu are different, but the characters seem the same ones.

Are they the same?

Answer 1

As ʞɹɐzǝɹ mentioned, they are not the same three idiots.

• The first set of three idiots had no idea that Osamu was in border. On top of this they are not in border either. You can check this in episode 01 where they run from the neighbors rather than trying to fight using triggers (normal/training).
• The second set of three idiots basically replace the first set since the first set is never mentioned again. The second set of three idiots become part of border as class C agents—trainees. You can tell by the white/orange uniforms.

While all six of them are idiots, they still play different roles. The first three being Osamu's bullies, the second three acting as superiors of Osamu.

You can check their personalities and appearances via episode 01 for the first set and episode 17 for the second set.

Answer 2

Due to the fact that actual names of the characters are different I do not believe they are the same. They are very similar groups, and this could be on purpose to provide some sort of comedic similarities. They are merely taking the spot of the "3 idiots" from the school because of the frequency that the scenes are going to be in the Border setting and not the school setting.