Should Hoke let an OL visit?

Ahh, hypotheticals that won't happen. You can tell it's the offseason without looking at a calendar.

Here are some other hypotheticals that have the same chance of happening:

"What if Shabazz Muhammad wants to join next year's basketball class? Do we tell Mitch he's Shabazz's backup?"

"What if Jim Harbaugh wants to quit the 49ers if he wins the Super Bowl this year. Do we let him be OC or QB coach?"

"What if Max Browne decides to commit to Michigan, do we let him? Morris said he's OK with a 2nd QB in this class."

"What if Roger Goodell retires to become assistant AD of football PR. Where do we move David Ablauf?"

we want him to visit, but make it perfectly clear it's as a long snapper or CB.

There are multiple issues here

1. Of course, it makes sense to allow visits from 4 & 5 star recruits, even if you don't currently have a commitable spot.
2. We're only guessing that Hoke said, "I am taking 5 OL Commitments, and no more, in the 2013 class."
3. We don't know that all 5 current verbal commits will stick (a la Caleb Stacey.)
4. We don't know if there will be any attrition from current OL players at Michigan. (unlikely, but who knows.)
5. I would be shocked, but it is possible that one of the incoming class could come in way out of shape and not make it through the season, opening up a spot.
6. We don't know how much attrition there will be in general.
7. It always is good to have several spots available for the best available at signing day. For instance, because Michigan struck out this year in the last week (Diamond et al,) it opened up a surprise spot on signing day, which went to running back Norfleet, iirc.
8. We don't know whether or not Kozan will come to Michigan. Unlikely, but possible.

If Kozan comes, and everyone sticks, there is no room. If Kozan doesn't come, and we lose someone from the incoming class, and there is other attrition, maybe you make room for Tunsil or Pocic, if they want to come.

To be fair to the recruits, who ever heard of receiving five 4 star OL recruits a year early? I don't blame Pocic for wanting to take his time and not be rushed into a decision. But it becomes clear that sometimes, if you snooze, you lose.

The staff was prepared to take 6-7 guys in the 2012 class but only ended up with 4 (barring an ayahuasca-induced change of heart on the part of Alex Kozan).  Hoke has said he wants the total number of scholarship players on the OL to be in the neighborhood of 14-16.  Next year we'll have 12 and 4 of them graduate.  Lewan (maybe Schofield?) will have NFL interest as well. 

Just to tread water at 12 we need to take 4-5 and Coach Hoke has repeatedly said he wants to lift that number.  That combined with the offers still out there pretty strongly indicate that we aren't done trying to bring in additional offensive linemen in this class.

I also sincerely doubt the staff ever told anyone we were taking 5 and no more.

There's no reason not to let kids visit.  There's always a chance that kids will decommit (Caleb Stacey), kids will get injured (Christian Pace), or kids will transfer (Dann O'Neil).  If a kid transfers after the season, you don't want to be left in the cold because you didn't allow kids to visit your school.  But you should be honest and say "At this time we're not looking to take another commitment, but things can always change."

No.

There has been a sort of "All aboard Team 134" vibe to Hoke's recruiting.  He seems to be pitching this from the "This team will be tremendous, and I hope you (recruit)  take this opportunity to be a part of that."  This protects the value of Michigan among recruits by putting the program first, after all this is Michigan, fergodssakes.

Breaking away from explicitly stated team needs because of a special talent degrades the value of committing to Michigan. 

Seems a few of you are forgetting that we let B. Dunn visit last year while he was still a verbal commit to OSU. There is nothing wrong with letting committed kids visit if they want. There is something wrong though with taking another OL commit at this point if you have told your guys that you are ONLY taking 5. We have no idea what Hoke has said on this matter though I would bet it is something along the lines of we would like to take 5. Its like someone said if all your needs are met and you have spots still available why would you not take the best available players that want to come. Meaning if we have all the positions filled for the class but #2, #28, and #33 want to commit why not take them if you have the open spots.

Dd anyone see the tweet from 11wariors about a commit possibly flipping? I know it's prob not from us, but was just curious if anyone had any info?

I'm confident the coaches will handle this well, and I understand why you let kids continue to visit (decommits, injuries, transfers).  All that said, if I'm one the 5 commits and was told we were only taking 5 OL in this class (as rumored), then the staff immediately tells 3 more players they can commit if they want, I'd want an explanation at the least.

Here is a caveat: we don’t know exactly what Hoke told the current five commits. Did he tell them he is taking five, full stop, no two ways about it? Or was it more hedged, as in, “We’re probably taking five”?

I suspect it is the latter. For one thing, it is never wise to box yourself into a corner, and I don’t think Hoke would make that mistake.

For another thing, Michigan is still under-manned on the offensive line. Hoke has said that the ideal number is about 15. As of now, Michigan would be at 13 in the fall of 2013. And they clearly were willing to take one or two more in the 2012 class, if either Josh Garnett or Jordan Diamond had committed. In fact, I think they would have accepted both.

With five comitted for 2013, they can afford to be very choosy, but if the right guy is interested, they ought to take him. Now, if Hoke in fact did make the iron-clad statement that Michigan is taking five, then I don’t think he should allow any more visits. I am just skeptical that Hoke actually said precisely that.

 In every recruiting class you have space for "the best player available" So you not only let a player like Laremy Tunsil visit you let him Commit if he wants to. It's absurd to think he wouldn't have a commitable offer. Hoke was quoted as saying something like "we tell the recruits we're going to recruit the best players year in , year out". He wouldn't be doing his job if he let a potentially great player slip by if he felt he was a good fit for a michigan team.