Moore started because of injury. I'd hardly call him a monster either, though he could certainly still develop into one. Freshmen at NU that started because of merit (because they were frickin monsters) are guys like incognito and fonoti. NFL players. Those are rare and I hope this kid is the next, but that's a pretty lofty expectation.
I'll add that there have been others that started as freshmen due to a lack of depth (sirles, slauson, murtha), but we seem to be past the days when we suffered from a lack of bodies on the line.