NFL Draft
12/17/24
3 min read
Cam Skattebo 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Arizona State Sun Devils RB
Height: 5100 (unofficial)
Weight: 225lbs (unofficial)
Year: Fifth-Year Senior
Pro Comparison: BenJarvus Green-Ellis
Scouting Overview
Arizona State Sun Devils running back Cam Skattebo is a bruising runner who has enjoyed a highly successful breakout season for the Sun Devils in 2024. Skattebo shows a nice blend of vision, short-area power, contact balance, and the ability to make flash decisions to work to developing creases.
He’s a powerful runner who is active in fending off tackle challenges in space. Thanks to his thick core and center of gravity, it proves difficult to successfully wrap up and wrangle to the ground. Skattebo’s room for growth lies in diversifying his passing game skill set and adding a focus on ball security.
Ten fumbles in three seasons are problematic, and too many of these come from simply failing to protect the football by coming high into contact. Skattebo’s pass protection reps are up and down for the consistency of framing defenders. He’ll wipe some second-level rushers out completely with cuts and low blocks, but other times, he is too late or too passive to properly identify.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Impressive power as a runner to push the pile and convert short-yardage opportunities
- Pairs physical running style with good vision to press the line of scrimmage and break to creases — not an exclusive one-track runner
- Rolls up yards after contact by running through soft tackle challenges
Negatives
- While his appetite for contact and willingness to pass protection is strong, his diagnosis and consistency of framing are irregular
- Does not have the kind of open-field explosiveness you’d ideally love in a volume player
- Ball security is a big area of focus — he’s got 10 credited fumbles since the start of 2022
Background
Skattebo’s journey to the NFL stage is a fascinating one. He was born in Rio Linda, CA, and played his high school football for Rio Linda HS. There, Skattebo was underrecruited despite rushing for more than 6,000 yards and 69 touchdowns during his career at Rio Linda.
As a result, he ultimately landed at Sacramento State in 2020, only to see his freshman season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Skattebo would go on to post productive seasons for Sacramento State in 2021 and 2022—he was named Third Team and Second Team Big Sky Conference, respectively, before entering the transfer portal ahead of the 2023 season as a 3-star transfer (247 Sports).
Skattebo quickly found a productive role at Arizona State but took his game to new heights in 2024. Skattebo logged 300 touches and more than 2,000 yards from scrimmage through the conference championships to help Arizona State win the Big 12 and punch a ticket to the College Football Playoff. Skattebo finished fifth in the 2024 Heisman Trophy voting and as First Team All-Big 12 for his efforts.
Tale Of The Tape
Skattebo is one of the most frantic runners in the class in the best way possible. This is a high-energy player who runs with urgency and physicality at every opportunity that he is given. Skattebo proved his ability to shoulder significant wear and tear throughout the 2024 college season — posting 300+ touches and serving as a punishing finisher of a runner on many of those instances.
He was trusted with a significant number of short-yardage run opportunities as the featured runner for the Sun Devils in 2024 and converted nearly 70 percent of his 40+ opportunities this season. The runs game in offset back, I formation, and in direct snap opportunities. Skattebo illustrates good acceleration into the line of scrimmage and surprisingly light feet to make late adjustments and cuts into creases.
His pad level is low, and he will require universal effort from the defense to help cut him down and avoid added yards after contact. He averaged nearly five yards after contact on third down carries this past season.
The total resume shows a player who shows impressive power and contact balance. His running style is best suited to hitting downhill with his pads square to the line of scrimmage, but he has illustrated patience and willingness to attack tacklers on outside bounce reads and gain a corner. However, this isn’t necessarily someone who should be dropped into a wide zone scheme and asked to capture the edge and stress defenses with speed to the perimeter.
Skattebo’s biggest wart as a runner, aside from his lack of explosive speed, is his ball security. Some of his fumbles are frustrating and offer too many free chances for turnovers on what appear to be routine runs. He needs to get better protection on the football when bracing for contact and attacking defenders, or else it'll cut down on his opportunities.
Further expanding his potential role in the NFL will come from expanding and fortifying his reps in pass protection and trying to expand what he can do in the passing game. The pass-receiving production was strong in 2024, but many of Skattebo’s touches in this phase are simple flares out of the backfield that serve as pseudo-screen passes with the eligibles releasing to block.
His hands are confident, but the ability to run routes from the backfield will need added focus to create separation underneath. There were some delayed releases with chips out of the backfield, and he did connect with his quarterback on a scramble drill on one occasion to get downfield and make a sliding catch along the sideline.
But this phase, plus his pass protection, can expand and grow. Skattebo has some crushing blows in pass protection that knock opposing defenders clear out of the picture, but he has just as many empty low challenges or late block recognition opportunities that yield pressure coming through interior gaps. He needs to process more consistently and be more consistent in how aggressive his set is to use the full brunt of his frame to its potential.
In all, Skattebo is surprisingly slippery, with good balance, vision, and strong power behind his runs. He’s a mauler and a tone-setter who has some physical limitations worth hedging with other backs in the running back room. This is an easy player to love, and his work to get to this point after his modest beginnings is a testament to his instinct and strain as a runner.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Skattebo projects best as a utility player and piece of a running back rotation. His downhill physicality will be best implemented between the tackles, and his vision and cut capabilities should play well in an inside zone system.
He has the ability to be a short-yardage option and, in moments of need, could shoulder a majority of the workload to get a team through a stretch of games.
Grade: 73.50/100.00, Fourth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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