Wide receiver Elijah Moore will be special at Florida State.

Florida State football fans have been wondering about when certain younger players on the Seminoles’ roster will make an appearance on the field.

The Seminoles are coming off a massive victory versus California to get in the win column after losses to Georgia Tech, Boston College, and Memphis. Some fans are saying that this 2024 season is a wash (I don’t necessarily disagree with it), and the coaching staff should see what they have for 2025 since Florida State opens next year with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Florida State’s 2024 season has been disappointing after having an undefeated regular season and a conference championship in 2023. The expectations were high, where Vegas projected the Seminoles’ over/under win total at 9.5 (which already hit the under through three games).

The offense has been abysmal, with quarterback transfer DJ Uiagalelei as the signal-caller. However, I would not primarily place all of the blame on him as there are several aspects of the offense that have not worked out well.

One young piece that Seminole fans want to see on the field is true freshman Elijah Moore. The 6’4″ Maryland native was a former four-star prospect in Florida State’s recruiting class. He was considered a top-200 recruit in the 2024 cycle. However, the only issue was that he was a summer enrollee.

He did not get the same opportunity as his fellow wide receivers in the class such as Lawayne McCoy, Camdon Frier, and BJ Gibson. Head football coach Mike Norvell was asked about Moore after Wednesday’s practice where he stated the following:

“He is someone that I am excited about his future. There is still a lot of things that he has to show in being ready to be on the field.”

Understandably, a true freshman is not ready to contribute right now. For example, you can point to a player such as sophomore wide receiver Hykeem Williams, who was supremely talented out of high school but struggled to acclimate to the collegiate game early on.

It is worth mentioning that Moore has only been in Tallahassee since this summer, so it is difficult to expect a true freshman to pick up everything so quickly. He has to find room to grow and develop at his own pace without stunting his development.