Dan Salomone

Cam Skattebo tweeted the following message at 11:20 a.m. on April 30, 2021.

Three years, 11 months and 27 days later, the New York Giants filled in the blanks and selected the hard-nosed running back from Arizona State with the 105th pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

"The journey that I've been on has been a long one, but we're here now," Skattebo said. "To be a Giant, I'm blessed to be here, and I can't wait to get to New York and start playing ball."

Now a household name, Skattebo posted his NFL declaration at a time when he was only known locally as a star out of Rio Linda High School, located just north of California's capital city of Sacramento. The lone college offer he received was from Sacramento State, which canceled his freshman season due to COVID-19.

Skattebo eventually debuted with third-team All-Big Sky honors in 2021, and his career took off the following season when he was named the conference's offensive player of the year. That led him to transfer to Arizona State, where he set school records with 1,711 rush yards and 2,316 scrimmage yards in his second of two seasons with the Sun Devils.

In his final game, he was named the Peach Bowl Offensive MVP despite Arizona State losing a double overtime thriller to Texas in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal. Skattebo willed his team to the end against a blue-blood program with 30 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns in addition to eight catches for 99 yards. If that weren't enough, he also threw a 42-yard touchdown as part of a 16-point fourth quarter to force overtime.

That's the production he will bring to a Giants offense that averaged 16 points per game last season.

"(I'm a) physical, downhill, get-to-the-end-zone back," said Skattebo, who finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting. "I love to score touchdowns. That's what I do."

While he can stuff a stat sheet, his style made him one of the Giants' favorite players in the draft.

"He's tough as nails," coach Brian Daboll said. "You can use him a variety of ways. Pass game, he can catch, he can run routes, he can throw the ball, as you've seen on one of those, and he's got very good vision and quick feet. He's a 220-pound back who runs with power, toughness and has the type of personality that I think (general manager) Joe (Schoen) did a great job of along with the scouts of bringing in guys that have a lot of toughness."

As for where it came from, Skattebo credits a "hard background" and an older brother who "picked" on him.

"He set me up for success," Cam said about Leo Skattebo, who played football at Bowling Green. "And my dad also being hard on me as a kid, understanding where I could take this football stuff in life, he preached on me every day about it. It's now coming to light."

Skattebo kicked off Day 3 of the draft for the Giants, who then rounded out their seven-player class with Purdue offensive lineman Marcus Mbow, Nebraska tight end Thomas Fidone II, and Oklahoma State cornerback Korie Black. Make no mistake, though; there are still plenty of edges.

"Physicality is definitely contagious," Skattebo said. "If someone gets ran over, it hypes the other guys up and it gets them going. I'm going to continue to bring that and hopefully it feeds off on to my teammates."

It shouldn't be hard to spread.

"Toughness all the way through the draft was something that we have talked about, both mental and physical," Daboll said. "I think Skattebo has got both. Not to mention the other guys."

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