Saban has told us what the problem is. Hall hasn’t demonstrated that he’s dependable. The fact that Saban has publicly phrased it that bluntly tells me that it’s probably not the absence of reliability, but rather the presence of overt unreliability.
Until Saturday, the issues had been kept in-house. Then Hall compounded his problem by putting it out in public. To say the least, tweeting, “I quit,” then thinking better of it and deleting the tweet, doesn’t help his case.
It could be route-running. Could be blocking assignments. Could be execution when he’s not the primary target. Could be focus on the catch when he is the primary target (given the drops, Lord knows we need that). Could be showing up to WR meetings on time and prepared. Could be all of those things.
But the bottom line is that Hall hasn’t been dependable in practice. He won’t see the field until he demonstrates that his teammates and coaches can rely on him on the road, in a game that matters, when the score is tight, the crowd is loud, and we need a first down.
Thing is, once you develop a reputation for unreliability, it takes more than just a practice or two to live that down.
After Saturday, there‘s a bye week and four games left in the regular season. I’m not sure there’s enough time left in the year to convince the coaches he’s genuinely changed his fundamental mindset, and not just on best behavior.