ASU’s all-around weapon: Family motivation fuels Cameron Skattebo’s versatility

(Photo: Marina Williams/WCSN)

Fans witnessed something slightly out of the ordinary midway through a late September football game at Mountain America Stadium. Arizona State running back Cameron Skattebo did exactly as his job title defined: run the ball. However, that wasn’t all he did that night. 

He completed a pass. Adding to that, he punted the ball as well. Kicking it farther than anyone else did that night for that matter as well.

Considering the responsibilities of his role were traditionally reduced to primarily running and occasionally catching the ball, many who witnessed were likely shocked at what they saw that night.

One person wasn’t. 

His father Leo Skattebo, who coached Cameron from a young age, wasn’t surprised because of what his son showed throughout his life. Leo himself had instilled that versatility in the running back from a young age. 

“He put me wherever he needed me,” Cameron said of his dad. “(If the) Quarterback got hurt, he put me in. If a receiver got hurt, he’ll put someone else at quarterback to throw me the ball. He got the ball to me in different ways.”

Skattebo wouldn’t be the do-it-all football player he currently is without the people who helped him, starting at home with family, then his community, and finally his collegiate coaches. 

He received support in being versatile through every phase of his life.

‘It was good times, and that’s the things you remember’

Leo Skattebo, Cameron’s father, recognized his son’s exceptional potential even at an abnormally young age. Most kids display their early athletic promise at ages five or six in their respective sports, but Leo didn’t even need sports to gauge Cameron’s potential.

“He wasn’t even two yet, maybe 18 or 19 months,” Leo said. “He rides (his bike) down the street, about ten cars back. He comes riding back from the very first time ever being on a bicycle — from the other side of the street — standing on the seat. That’s when I knew that he was just a little bit different than everybody else.”

Skattebo’s versatility extends to other facets of his life, even if he was perhaps always destined to follow a path onto the gridiron. He wasn’t the first of his family to follow football, as his older brother, Leo Skattebo Jr., had already set the standard.

Even if Cameron’s brother was not as athletic as he was, there were always lessons to be learned from him.

“Just seeing him continue to grind,” Cameron said. “Knowing he didn’t have the athletic ability or the physique that he wanted to be able to compete, but still grinding every day. He showed me a lot and showed me how to keep pushing.”

Leo was the focal point of each of his son’s early football careers. He strongly believed in developing his sons, especially Cameron, from a young age to build a team together, and coaching them all the way up until high school.

“When I was five years old, my dad used to grab me by my face mask, screaming in my face,” Skattebo said. “All you remember when you were little is this spit hitting your face while you getting yelled at, which is awesome. We look back at it as adults, me and my buddies, it was good times, and that’s the things you remember.”

While Leo’s coaching style was aggressive, it was also meant to be successful.

“I think it was his first four years I coached him,” Leo said. “We never lost a game. That group was just really good. They had a lot of kids that meshed really well together, and it was a lot of talent at that age, at a younger age.”

Evidently, Leo’s coaching style paid off over a decade later.

A finalist for the Paul Hornung Award — given to the nation’s most versatile player — Cameron had to wear multiple hats for an ASU team ravaged by injuries, especially when all four of ASU’s scholarship quarterbacks were out for varying periods of time. 

Skattebo rushed for 788 yards and nine touchdowns — while tallying 284 receiving yards — in 2023 for ASU. Perhaps those were relatively expected numbers for a running back, but his 130 passing yards on six completions of 15 attempts and a passing touchdown were surely unexpected. He even tallied eight punts with three traveling 50 yards or more.

Ironically, playing a multitude of positions, including quarterback and punter, wasn’t new for Skattebo. It was just another lesson his father taught him. 

“Cameron was a running back from seven years old until about 10-11 (years old),” Leo said. “His best friend was the quarterback and then got hurt at about 10 years old and didn’t play for a few years. So then I made Cameron the quarterback.”

‘We had a real strong culture’

The decision to move Skattebo to quarterback was made in regards to developing him to best fit the scheme of Rio Linda High School, his local football program. Leo wasn’t going to let his son be unprepared for the next level, even if it was four years away. 

“Rio Linda was a running team when Cameron was about 10,” Leo said. “Then we brought in a coach to the high school that [had] more of a spread offense. It was a quarterback that kind of ran around and threw the ball. So our head coach ran an offense like that. So the head coach of [Rio Linda’s] varsity (team) wanted Cameron to play that position.”

It wasn’t just under-center that Skattebo moved to. As he did for ASU years later, he moved anywhere on the field where he could get the ball. He was the ultimate playmaker in every facet from the outset. Skattebo has continuously worked through reps during ASU’s preseason camp until the whistle sounds, simulating his fight for extra yards.

It all goes back to his versatility. 

“[Skattebo] has not touched the ground by choice this entire camp,” ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham said. “Not touched the ground. He may have [earlier] in a live period, but just in contact thuds, he never fell to the ground. He stayed up the entire day. That’s impressive for a running back.”

A new figure had taken the helm of Rio Linda by the time Skattebo finally reached high school. Head coach Jack Garceau reinserted a power running scheme that forced Skattebo to return to the backfield, where he began his football journey.

While the Rio Linda alum played a multitude of positions growing up, the group he played with since his formative years and where he was going to play his high school seasons never changed. Camaraderie and staying loyal as a collective was always important to Skattebo and his family.

That value has become rare, especially in the transfer portal era of collegiate athletics. 

“My team grew up from the age of seven years old all the way up to high school,” Skattebo said. “So we had a real strong culture. A lot of those guys as they started getting older into junior high, they wanted to split ways. My dad kept us together and told us, ‘No, you guys need to go play together. You guys grew up together. You guys have that chemistry.’ And we stuck together.” 

Even if members of his team had left for other high schools, Skattebo would have been a Golden Knight on the strength of family heritage alone. His father wouldn’t have allowed it any other way.

Chasing recognition or scholarship offers wasn’t going to get in the way of family tradition or his teammates.

“Cameron went to Rio Linda because I went to Rio Linda,” Leo said. “My older son graduated from Rio Linda, and my dad graduated from Rio Linda.”

The school’s football program is a Division 5 team — a lower sector of California high school sports — while the school’s entire population sits just above 1,600 students. Perhaps it would’ve been beneficial to chase scholarships at well-known schools, but that didn’t get in the way.

“Me, as a parent, thought that it doesn’t matter what school you go to,” Leo said. “As long as you perform, people will find out where you’re at.” 

Skattebo and his team specifically had already made waves through their developmental years that had tracked onto the radar of Garceau awaiting their high school arrival. 

“There was always kind of that kind of mystique kind of followed him all the way through (his) youth,” Garceau said.

Breaking into the varsity level his sophomore season, Skattebo was a difference-maker instantaneously.  He spearheaded a 50-37 victory against Center High School in Week 1 with 128 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on just 12 carries while adding a single reception that he took 33 yards for another score as well, according to MaxPreps. The breakthrough performance was a sign of things to come.

The budding star would finish his sophomore season with 992 rushing yards and nine touchdowns on the ground while catching 15 passes for 272 yards through the air with four receiving touchdowns. For good measure, the star player added 73 total tackles as a linebacker on the defensive end.

Despite the quality sophomore season, his team finished 7-5. So what did Skattebo do?

He got back to work with his dad.

“Sophomore to junior year we talked, and we needed to fix some things,” Leo said. “We need to get him quicker. We needed to get him a little fitter.” 

Skattebo had a simpler approach. 

“My mindset wasn’t right,” he said. 

Enter Lem Adams, trainer and owner of GameFit Sacramento. Under the tutelage of Adams, the summer of 2018 became a transformative few months for Skattebo. Being a slightly heavier set, Cameron was a traditional power running back whose effectiveness was rooted in his strength and imposing style of play. Adams’ goal was to mold him into a versatile weapon that could brutalize defenders at the point of contact while also avoiding them and defeating them in any way possible.  

“When I got Cam he was more of a physical runner,” Adams said. “Not like super-duper athletic. My goal was just to make sure I applied athleticism to him, and movement to him. Got his stiffness out of him and taught him to be super versatile, catching the ball. 

The goal is not to get hit. As a running back, to be able to last, you got to be able to take a pounding but you need to be able to move from people. You have to be able to be explosive. You gotta learn how to maneuver and have good agility and balance.”

The training was eye-opening for Skattebo, who now realized there was a new level of dominance he could assert.

“He worked on things that I didn’t know were possible at the time,” Skattebo said. “The footwork and everything. [Lem] constantly nagged on me about it, and nagged on me to do things perfectly because we knew I could do it.”

Skattebo had made changes not just to his body but to his lifestyle and dedication to elevating his game. The star had set himself up in a way to endure a long season in ways others hadn’t.  

“He was taking care of his body like a [Division I] athlete at the time,” Garceau said. “He was going into cryotherapy. He was constantly working. As people were getting beat up and feeling the effects of the season, he was just getting started.”

The results for the player and his team were resounding in Skattebo’s junior year. He was incandescent. On 305 attempts, he tallied a staggering 3,550 rushing yards — good for 11.2 yards per carry —  and 42 rushing touchdowns, according to MaxPreps. He ranked second in the entire nation for yards on the ground that season. The pinnacle of the year was a 393-yard, three-touchdown explosion against San Gorgonio in the California Division 5 championship game to cap off a 13-2 season that included a state title.

“Every time he touched the ball that night it seemed like he was gaining 50 yards or scoring,” Garceau said.

‘You have something to prove’

Skattebo carried the offensive load throughout his first season at ASU, especially against UCLA with rushing and passing touchdowns that vaulted the Sun Devils over the Bruins 17-7 at the Rose Bowl. For a unit that was decimated by injuries across its two-deep, Skattebo’s performance was indicative of his versatile play style.  

It was more than that, however. It was a personal vindication. 

A few years prior on the back of a record-breaking junior season, Skattebo still had not gained much traction on the college recruiting front. He and his father began taking unofficial visits to various schools in hopes of churning the recruiting mill themselves. The family reached out to schools to notify them of their trip to campus, attempting to meet anyone who could provide an opportunity.

Deshaun Foster, then running backs coach and now UCLA head coach, had a particularly strident conversation with the Skattebos, according to Leo

“We went down [to UCLA] after Cameron’s junior year,” Leo said, “We went in to talk to Foster. He basically told me, ‘Your son’s playing the wrong position, he’s a white kid. He shouldn’t be playing running back.’ I’m like, ‘Do you not watch the tape?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, but he’s not going to be able to play here.’”

That was unforgettable.

“UCLA was one of our target games (in 2023) because of what happened when we went down there on our visit,” Leo said. “Kicking their ass was super fun because ‘You didn’t want him? OK here you go.’”

It wasn’t until Cameron showed out at a Sacramento State camp that a college started noticing the local talent.

Queue the opportunities.

The personability of Hornet head coach Troy Taylor – who’s now at Stanford – got through to Skattebo, leaving a lasting impression. He brought Skattebo out of his usual reserved self and opened the door to an opportunity to continue his college career at a Division I FCS program. The level didn’t matter to Skattebo. He was right at home.

“[Cameron] is super shy,” Leo said. “He’s fine around his friends, but when we’re in front of a coach, he kind of shuts down. Taylor saw that. He was like, ‘Hey, let’s get out of this office, and all let’s go walk around the school.’ It got Cameron out of his shell. They had a great conversation.

Taylor sold him because he showed him. He engaged with Cameron on a different level than anybody ever had before. It was more like a ‘let’s talk and have a family-type atmosphere’ conversation and it went well.”

Taylor’s magnetic personality resonated with the Skattebos, resulting in Cameron’s eventual commitment. 

“I knew that when I first met [Taylor], that he was going to have my back if I was there as an athlete,” Skattebo said. “Coach Taylor was great to me. It meant a lot for him to give me that chance, and him to believe in me.” 

At Sacramento State, Cameron found more of the group consistency that he had growing up. That familiarity amongst a team — especially in today’s era of a vast transfer portal — can be hard to come by amongst major programs. However, at lower-level FCS schools, the common motivations amongst the players create a bond. 

“I was there for three years and 60-70 guys were the same for three years,” Skattebo said. “It was really cool to have that type of connection. At a smaller school like that you don’t feel like ‘Oh, I’m at a big school. I can just leave whenever I want.’ When you’re at that small school, you have something to prove.”

The collective group fellowship wasn’t the only similarity between Rio Linda and Sacramento State. A team bulldozing their way to championships on the back of Cameron’s all-around ability was the other. In his two seasons starting for the Hornets, he totaled 24 games with 1,893 rushing yards — a 105.3 yards per game average in his junior season — and 13 rushing touchdowns. He even caught 43 passes for 495 yards and four touchdowns. 

Ever the versatile player, he added one passing touchdown during his time as well. 

The team enjoyed two straight Big Sky league championships and undefeated conference records during that span. Like at Rio Linda, Skattebo was the offensive powerhouse and fulcrum point to the team’s success. His bruising yet all-encompassing style of play was a motivation for the entire team.

“[Cameron] provided an edge on offense that was contagious within the whole team.,” then Sacramento State running back coach Malcolm Agnew said. “He played the game the right way. Hard, fast, and with bad intentions. He was always the most physical guy in the field and people felt that and fed off of that.”

Agnew, who has since followed Taylor to Stanford, got to see the evolution the star running back had in his time in Sacramento. Skattebo elevated his game not just on the field but off of it as well while the way he conducted his life began to sharpen. 

“That was the biggest thing I noticed,” Leo said. “He did a better job of ‘OK, I’ve got to make sure I eat the right things. I’ve got to make sure I’m not just showing up on time, but five minutes early.’ That’s where he showed the most growth.”

After Taylor’s departure for Palo Alto, Skattebo entered his name in the portal. He and his father searched for a home with the hopes of landing somewhere that would put him on a bigger platform to display his abilities to reach the NFL.

Somewhere that was family.

“When Troy Taylor left [Sacramento] State, it wasn’t being at a small school,” Skattebo said about his decision to transfer. “It was just that he recruited me and he gave me the opportunity. He went to Stanford. I took my next opportunity and came (to ASU).”

For Leo, it was again the personability and effort that swayed him. Other interested schools didn’t make the former Big Sky offensive player of the year or his family feel like a priority and that he would be given a chance to play, according to Leo. It was the effort of running backs coach Shaun Aguano that moved the needle.

“Aguano flew up to Sacramento and then came to my house,” Leo said. “We had a good conversation for like an hour. He said, ‘We like [Cameron’s] game and he will have every opportunity to play.’”

Then Aguano brought in the closer. Dillingham, who is the youngest head coach in college football, displayed his youthful exuberance and vigor to the family. His high-energy personality proved indelible to Skattebo and his family. 

“We flew down [to Tempe] and met Dillingham,” Leo said. “The vibe of him, even though he was very young, was just very enthusiastic. That’s what Cameron needed. Meeting someone that’s a little more exciting and a little bit more fun. He hadn’t had that before.”

Now entering his second season as a Sun Devil and his last of college eligibility, Skattebo has one last resume-building year to cement his NFL draft stock. Newly minted ASU offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo already sees the potential for a vast game-changing role for the former Rio Linda star in his offense. 

“His ability to be an all-down back, his ability to be part of the passing game, the running game, and the screen game in this offense is really important,” Arroyo said. “The way that we manipulate the structure of the offense and move guys around so much, the multiplicity that a guy can have only adds to the damage.” 

Safe to say much will be expected from the Hornung Award finalist in 2024. He’ll be asked to do a little bit of everything at a high level under Arroyo. His expectations span past his responsibilities on the field and into being one of the leading figures on the team.

It was announced in the summer that Skattebo was selected to the Pat Tillman Leadership Council, adding to his responsibilities of not only playing well but guiding the program.

His leadership will be especially needed in a team with a new starting quarterback in redshirt freshman Sam Leavitt, and two underclassmen running backs behind Skattebo in sophomore Kyson Brown and true freshman Jason Brown. 

From the outside looking in it may seem like a lot to juggle. For Skattebo, his ability to take on a number of tasks has only improved.

“The biggest thing for him is how much he’s matured in the last, I mean, since the season, it’s eight months,” Dillingham said. “It’s just incredible. He’s a different person, just from a maturity level, from a focus level, from how he practices, how he puts in the work in the off-season. I mean, that’s a guy who I couldn’t be more proud of in terms of how He’s changed his outlook on work. And I think he’s just a great story in terms of, keep pushing and don’t let people tell you you can’t do some”

For Leo, well he’s known his son is special ever since he was less than two years old standing up on bike seats when most kids were barely walking. What’s to come is nothing new. 

As for Skattebo himself, he perhaps tells it best. 

“Just constantly doing different things all the time,” he said. “It was never just one all-year-round thing. Growing up from five years old, I was playing baseball, basketball, and football. It was like I was constantly doing something else throughout the years, working on different skills. Just doing everything, doing multiple things to help me be agile and athletic, constantly kept me going.”

 

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