Written by Justin Prince. 

The Marshall Thundering Herd was already looking to replace two coordinators and now it seems Doc Holliday will have to replace his starting quarterback.

Chase Litton, a three-year starter for the Herd, officially announced his plans to declare for the NFL Draft Sunday morning via his twitter account.

“After deliberations with my family and close friends, I would like to officially announce that I am declaring for the NFL Draft,” Litton said in the twitter post.

“I want to thank Coach Holliday and Marshall University for allowing me to be their quarterback for the past three season,” Litton continued. “My time in this prestigious program has readied me for this challenge and I will carry the “M” around with me forever.”

The announcement has come amid a coaching search to replace long time offensive coordinator Bill Legg following his resignation just after the season ended with the Herd’s New Mexico Bowl victory.

Marshall’s offense seemed like an ideal place for a new coordinator to land with several returning starters and an experienced quarterback in Litton at the helm. Now the Herd will have to turn to an unknown at the QB position.

During his three years as the Herd’s starter, Litton threw for 8,335 yards and 72 touchdowns posting career highs for both yards and TDs in 2017.

Litton also had a career high 14 interceptions during his junior campaign and at times his accuracy was called into question as he completed a career low 60 percent of his passes.

According to Waltercampfootball.com Litton isn’t ranked among the top 25-quarterback prospects for 2018’s NFL Draft. However, he was ranked as the seventh best QB in the 2019 draft class.

Regardless of how this decision plays out for Litton it will leave an unexpected void that now has to be filled by coach Holliday while he also searches for new coaches to handle his coordinator duties on both sides of the ball.