Fredrick Moore’s path to Michigan, outlook for 2024

Fred Moore should see the field much more in 2024.

A position battle is heating up at the wide receiver position for the Michigan Wolverines heading into fall camp.

Since the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Chargers drafted Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson, respectively, the Wolverines need to replace their top two receiving targets for the 2024 season.

With the rise of some younger players who showed glimpses of stardom in 2023, players like Fredrick Moore are in a prime position to secure a starting role.

The story so far

Moore was a three-star prospect out of Cardinal Ritter College Prep in St. Louis, Missouri and arrived in Ann Arbor following a spectacular 14-0 season and a Missouri Class 3A State Championship.

As a high school senior, Moore served as an absolute weapon. As a two-way player, he caught 24 touchdowns, rushed for four scores, intercepted three passes on defense and returned kicks and punts. Moore ended his season with 67 receptions for 1,504 yards.

Standing at 6-foot-1 and 176 pounds, Moore was ranked the 68th-best receiver in the 2023 class on the 247Sports composite and the No. 12 player in the state of Missouri. At his size, Moore brings height to a room with only two more players taller than 6-foot, and his speed (10.8 second 100-meter dash) can allow him to play a similar role to what Roman Wilson played the past few seasons.

Coming to Michigan for his freshman campaign last season, Moore was joined by two other freshman wide receivers who were all competing for time on the field. While Moore was the first of the bunch to see the field, making his Wolverine debut playing wide receiver against East Carolina University on September 2, catching two passes for 18 yards, he was primarily moved to a special teams role going forward, getting jumped on the receiver depth chart by freshman standout, Semaj Morgan.

Moore finished the season appearing in 13 games but only caught four passes for 32 yards.

Outlook moving forward

Moore is in a very good position for 2024.

Wilson and Johnson have both departed for the NFL, Karmello English just transferred to West Georgia, and wide receivers coach Ron Bellamy has seen Moore grow throughout a full season now. As it stands, Semaj Morgan, Moore and Tyler Morris are the top three receivers on the depth chart with Kendrick Bell, Amorion Walker, C.J. Charleston and I’Marion Stewart standing as the backups.

Given Moore’s size, speed and hands, many current and former Wolverines believe Moore is next up in the receiver room.

At the NFL Combine in March, Wilson stated that Moore has “the size, the speed, the work. He’s gonna be a dawg this year and next year and the year after.”

Semaj Morgan backed this up and went a step further, comparing Moore to Jerry Jeudy: “He’s a great route-runner. He’s gonna catch the — oh, he’s also great at tracking the ball, too. … It’s gonna be a great year for him.”

In addition, Tyler Morris told reporters, “With Fred, we are going to need one of those deep-ball receivers.”

That breakout potential was shown in Michigan’s spring game in April, when Moore had two receptions for a game-leading 76 receiving yards and a touchdown to go with a five-yard carry.

Of all the receivers, Moore stood out the most during Michigan’s Spring Game on April 20th when Moore had two receptions for a game-leading 76 receiving yards and a touchdown to go with a five-yard carry, including a 41-yard touchdown from Davis Warren.

There is still time for other contenders to show their skills at practice to give themselves a chance at meaningful playing time, but with the Texas Longhorns coming to Ann Arbor in the second week of the season, Sherrone Moore and his staff will need to have a good understanding of the depth chart sooner rather than later.