Missouri has lost its first football player in the wake of the school's announcement that it had fired head coach Barry Odom on Saturday. But this player isn't transferring to a new school. He's off to the NFL.

Junior defensive tackle Jordan Elliott announced on his Twitter account Sunday morning that he will forego his final season of eligibility and declare for the NFL Draft. In his first year as a starter for the Tiger defense, Elliott amassed 44 tackles, including 8.5 for loss and two sacks. Pro Football Focus grades Elliott as the top interior defensive lineman in the country.

Elliott began his college career at Texas but opted to transfer after head coach Charlie Strong and his staff were fired following the 2016 season. Elliott ultimately followed his defensive line coach with the Longhorns, Brick Haley, to Missouri. He sat out the 2017 season and played a complementary role behind Terry Beckner Jr. and Walter Palmore a season ago.

But prior to this year, Elliott revamped his diet, cutting out red meat and chicken, and transformed his body. He played more than 70 percent of defensive snaps this season, the most among Missouri's defensive tackles.

With Elliott's announcement, Kobie Whiteside will likely take over as the anchor of the defensive line, assuming he returns for his senior season. Whiteside led the Tigers with 7.5 sacks this season. Among the players beneath Whiteside and Elliott on the depth chart with remaining eligibility, Akial Byers and Markell Utsey saw the most playing time this year. Byers finished the year with 18 tackles and Utsey had nine.

Elliott has not yet popped up on many mock drafts, but in August, Yahoo's Eric Edholm included him on a list of under-the-radar players with first-round potential. The next step for Elliott could be earning invitation to the NFL Combine, which will be held from Feb. 24 to March 2.