MSU Football Film Review: What Fredrick Moore Brings to Table
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Michigan State begins a new era of Spartan football this fall after the hiring of Pat Fitzgerald as its newest head coach. The program has not had a winning season or appeared in a bowl game since 2021, but it's looking to change that after a bevy of new additions from the transfer portal.
The Spartans lost their primetime wideout, Nick Marsh, to the portal, who transferred to rival Indiana. To replace him, they added Notre Dame's KK Smith and Michigan's Fredrick Moore, the subject of my latest deep dive, to the wide receiver room. Moore was a depth receiver for the Wolverines and saw very little playing time outside of being the No. 1 pass-catcher in the 2024 Reliaquest Bowl.
As Michigan State and offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan prepare for the regular season opener against Toledo in two months, Moore could be a critical piece to the passing game. Let's take a closer look at what I saw on tape.
Fredrick Moore Is a Talent Ready To Showcase His Upside
A former 3-star recruit out of Missouri, Moore spent much of his three years in Ann Arbor on the bench or as a rotational figure. In 2024, he played 100 snaps, catching 11 of his 17 targets for 133 yards and a touchdown. It is hard to get an accurate picture of the type of player the Spartans could be getting, but I watched a handful of his most productive games in 2024 to get as clear a picture as possible.
What I saw from Moore was a player who could've been getting more targets across the board. The redshirt junior has some impressive reps as a route runner, and there's an athletic profile to build off of despite having a lean frame at 6-foot-1, 191 pounds.
Moore does a good job of not telegraphing his routes and is quite deliberate in the concept and pattern plays, using snappy movements and subtle fakes to create separation at all three levels while also showing quality breaks at the top of routes. Moore does well to attack blind spots in zone coverage, read defenders' leverage, and then sit in the void to make himself available.
There are some impressive moments of vertical separation using short-area quickness and rapid foot-fire to get the defender stuck in quicksand. Moore will then use his acceleration to get away from the defender, though the vertical targets never came. His ball skills posed few issues, as he remained fairly reliable at the catch point while flashing great body control and adjustment ability in the air, as he did against Alabama in 2024.
Going back a couple of years to watch productive tape of Michigan St. WR and U-M transfer WR Fredrick Moore. I'm impressed with his quickness at the line of scrimmage and good-looking body control at the catch point.
— Jared Feinberg (@Jared_NFLDraft) July 2, 2026
Moore, KK Smith, and Chrishon McCray are MSU's new WR trio. pic.twitter.com/SjLHfjYBfu
What To Expect From Moore in 2026
It is hard to gauge what Moore's true struggles are as a wide receiver. I saw a relatively underutilized playmaker who could've been a starter at another program elsewhere, and he is taking that opportunity with in-state rival Michigan State as one of the top pass-catchers on the roster.
Having gotten a general look at all the expected top-three wide receivers in East Lansing, this is a group that could surprise people in 2026. There will be more on this later, but the general thesis is that Moore has the talent to be a productive player for the Spartans, utilizing his untapped athletic profile and ball skills to generate explosive plays for Sheridan's offense this season.
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Jared Feinberg, a native of western North Carolina, has written about NFL football for nearly a decade. He has contributed to several national outlets and is now part of our On SI team as an NFL team reporter. Jared graduated from UNC Asheville with a bachelor's degree in mass communications and later pursued his master's degree at UNC Charlotte. You can follow Jared Feinberg on Twitter at @JRodNFLDraft