FSU WR Elijah Moore prepared for big leap in 2025

With less than a month before the first football game of the 2025 college football season, the Florida State Seminoles have been preparing for their first game against Alabama at the end of August. While the nation's expectations may be low for the Seminoles as game 1 looms, the confidence is there for Mike Norvell and his squad ahead of their home opener.

One of the few positive outcomes of the 2024 season was that most of the young and inexperienced players were able to get some in-game reps towards the end of the season due to a multitude of reasons. One of those players is redshirt freshman wide receiver Elijah Moore, who has garnered praise from Mike Norvell after being a consistent playmaker early on in fall camp.

Following Sunday's practice, Moore mentioned that he feels more prepared going into the season now than he did at this time last year.

"I feel really good, I feel like I've had way more preparation, especially with coach Tim [Harris] pushing me a lot, I feel like I'm way more prepared for this year, and it's a different standard, so I feel like I'm way more excited, definitely way more prepared."

Leadership was another issue with the 2024 Seminole squad, more specifically, the lack of leadership. It appears that has changed since the arrival of former UCF and Boston College quarterback Tommy Castellanos, who transferred to Florida State in December.

Moore recalled the time he first met the new FSU quarterback, and that their first meeting told him everything he needed to know about Castellanos.

"My first time meeting Tommy was on the snow day when it snowed down here. He actually got all the guys together, and we all went to a hill and went sledding, and we had food at his house, so I could just tell what kind of leader he was going to be," Moore said.

"Team guy, he's very outgoing, not scared to tell anybody what they're messing up on, and willing to tell everybody what they're doing good," Moore added. "So I could just tell the trajectory of where we're going to go just off the snow day, and it's shown through tour of duty, spring, summer, just everything,"

Mike Norvell has been at the helm of some of Florida State's best and worst seasons, but the respect and admiration from his players have never wavered. Moore mentioned that his belief in Norvell remained, even after a 2-10 season, and that he's always going to ride with his coach.

"I remember the first time I met coach Norvell, and I had my first meeting with him with my mom and my sister in his office, and he looked me in the eye and he said 'if you don't want to be your best, and if you don't want me to push you to your best, then don't come here,' and I just took that for the rest of my life with a grain of salt."

"If he's pushing me or he's making me mad, he loves me and he wants me to be the best version of myself he knows I can be, so I'm listening to him no matter what happens," Moore continued.

The Florida State Seminoles will take on the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, August 30th in Tallahassee, FL. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 PM.

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