Just a few weeks ago, everything was peachy.LSU football coach Les Miles was still somewhat revered. Maybe more importantly, Larry Porter was still LSU’s head recruiter.Porter, the former running backs coach at LSU for the past five seasons, accepted the vacant head coaching job Nov. 29 at his alma mater Memphis where he played running back from 1990-93.At this point, LSU’s 2010 recruiting class has 23 commitments. Scout.com ranks the class No. 5 nationwide.  Naturally, Porter has been instrumental in that success. He has been the breadwinner for LSU recruiting-wise, garnering Rivals.com’s National Recruiter of the Year award twice during his five-year tenure in Baton Rouge.Porter’s departure doesn’t seem to be having a significant effect on either classes of recruits — 2010 and 2011— currently involved in the process.”As far as the committed prospects go, everyone that Larry Porter recruited still say they’re solid with their commitments, and they intend to follow through and sign with LSU,” said Scout.com recruiting analyst Sonny Shipp. “It’s still early. You’re going to have to look and see who the new running backs coach is and how those guys are able to forge a relationship with the new guy. And so losing Porter could come into play down the road.”Recruiting coordinator Don Yanowsky has been hard at work flying across the country to visit recruits and trying to reforge relationships. It appears to be working. “Coach Yanowsky is doing a good job, and all the staff is,” Shipp said. “The coaches are having to get out there and having to log more hours and deal with more airplanes to try to stay on top of some of these guys because they have a short staff right now.”Things actually may be getting better for LSU on the recruiting trail. Three-star running back Jakhari Gore, cousin of former Miami and current San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore, has said LSU is still his top choice. A commitment from Gore could come as early as next week. Yanowsky visited Gore in Miami last week to try to reaffirm any separation between the two parties after Porter, Gore’s primary recruiter, left. “Les Miles is supposed to make an in-home visit with him, and he says if Coach Miles answers all his questions and his mom feels good about the situation, I think there’s a very good chance he could pull the trigger,” Shipp said.Yanowsky has certainly been busy. The tight ends coach also visited five-star defensive end prospect Corey Lemonier and persuaded the Hialeah, Fla., native to visit Baton Rouge. Lemonier is rated as the No. 4 defensive end in the 2010 class by Scout.com and has already visited Auburn, Florida State, Illinois and Tennessee. Though his impending visit is encouraging, LSU has its work cut out for itself if the coaches hope to snatch a commitment from Lemonier. “It’s too early to tell,” Shipp said. “He didn’t really want to take another visit, but Don Yanowsky was in the school, and he had a good enough sales pitch to where Corey wants to check LSU out, and it depends on how his visit goes.”A commitment from Gore would push LSU’s commitment number to 24. Shipp said Gore would be a welcome addition, as the running back and wide receiver are two spots Miles and company need to replenish.”Those are two areas they really need to fill some needs,” Shipp said. “They would like to get another defensive end and another linebacker, but I think right now running back and receiver are the two areas that need to be shored up the most.”—-Contact Chris Branch at [email protected]