So two quotes are relevant to the debate in this thread....
1) I think Linda is right in some ways. Not literally, but Lavin's statements did imply that Orlando's elidgibility had a lot to do with if Gift would redshirt..
From Novemeber 3rd:
"Felix and Gift won't play in the exhibition on Tuesday night either. With Marco and Orlando, we're waiting on a ruling regarding their eligibility and we expect to hear at some point in the next week or so on that ... Their eligibility plays with the redshirt decision, so there are a lot of moving parts as we assess our personnel based on the decision the NCAA comes up with regarding Orlando and Marco".
So he didn't necessarily say Orlando elidgible = Gift redshirt. But he said the NCAA's rulings on Marco and Orlando would be a big factor in in Gift and Felix redshirted.
And there's really no reason to think Felix would get less playing time with Orlando around, they play two very different positions. So there is a pretty strong implication that Gift's decision would be predicated on Orlando's eligibility.
2) But, it really doesn't matter. Because 212 and everybody else is absolutely right, coach has ZERO responsibility to tell us why he's making decisions like that about the program. He has a responsibility to answer normal post game interview questions, like "why didn't you start Obekpa against ND?", or "Are you pleased with the defensive performance of the team?" and he does answer those. But not personnel decisions.
Especially when it involves personal aspects of students' lives.
College coaches are notoriously close lipped. Saban tells the media next to nothing. 10x worse than Bellichek.