ARLINGTON, Texas — After scoring his third landing of the sport on a swing move in a dominant 45-19 victory over Iowa State to say the Huge 12 title, Arizona State operating again Cam Skattebo calmly walked into the top zone and struck the Heisman Trophy pose.
Skattebo is not among the many eight gamers listed on FanDuel with +50000 or higher odds to win the award. Realistically, he does not have an opportunity to catch Travis Hunter or Ashton Jeanty for the consideration. Nonetheless, he refused to again down. And this was his second.
“I have been disrespected all my life,” Skattebo mentioned. “I’ve all the time been the underdog, and no one respects the truth that I am the very best operating again within the nation. I’ll stand on that. If folks disrespect that, I’ll hold going, and I’ll hold proving folks flawed.”
Should you’re in search of manufactured gripes, you will not discover them right here. Skattebo was recruited by William & Mary out of highschool earlier than touchdown at FCS Sacramento State. He wasn’t even the beginning operating again with the Hornets till now-Atlanta Falcons operating again Elijah Dotson transferred. Arizona State had a reference to him from his Sac State days and took a flyer on him within the portal. Now, the previous Huge Sky backup is among the largest stars in faculty soccer.
Coming into Saturday, Skattebo ranked second nationally in all-purpose yards per recreation, trailing solely Jeanty. After clearing 200 all-purpose yards and scoring three touchdowns within the Huge 12 Championship Sport, Skattebo has totaled 1,568 yards on the bottom, 506 receiving yards and is simply the third participant in faculty soccer this season to surpass 2,000 all-purpose yards.
“He is simply received a low heart of gravity,” Iowa State defensive lineman J.R. Singleton mentioned. “I really feel like when he will get his engine going, it is laborious to cease him. When he does get going, you must populate to the ball. It is actually laborious to deal with him one-on-one.”
There was a weird sequence within the first half when Skattebo took the ball on a run, discovered himself in bother and immediately threw it into the center of the sphere. Everybody seemed round in confusion. It seems Skattebo was outdoors the deal with field. Avoiding a sack and turning it into an incompletion prevented a unfavorable play and arrange a landing.
“I am like, what simply occurred? Is that this actual life?” Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham mentioned. “However that is Skat. That defines Skat. He finds a manner to achieve success.”
After the sport, Skattebo obtained the WWE championship belt gifted to the Huge 12 Championship Sport MVP by WWE wrestlers Jey Uso and Sami Zayn and received all of his offensive linemen to signal it. He shared it together with his father within the mum or dad part and needed to be pulled away to satisfy his postgame obligations.
The 2 hottest jerseys within the Arizona State fan part: Pat Tillman and Skattebo.
“It is fairly wild. I will hand the ball off, perform my faux slightly bit and prepare for a achieve of 5 or no matter,” Arizona State quarterback Sam Leavitt mentioned. “I’ve received the very best seat in the home. I see the dude weaving by some site visitors, rambling free and breaking one for 70. He is the very best participant within the nation, flat out, probably the most dominant participant.”
Vast receiver Xavier Guillory performed in opposition to Skattebo when each had been within the Huge Sky Convention. Guillory was a star at Idaho State when Skattebo broke out at Sacramento State.
“Each recreation, I will be blocking for him and suppose I am finished, after which I lookup and say, okay, cool, he is nonetheless operating,” Guillory mentioned. “Oh, he is nonetheless operating. Okay, I am operating down the sphere 100 yards to go block with this dude. I’ve seen this since 2021. This dude is loopy.”
Skattebo has unbelievable leg drive and manages to take care of his steadiness by contact higher than virtually any operating again in faculty soccer. He confirmed it off early and infrequently in opposition to Iowa State, breaking a number of tackles to maintain the Solar Devils within the recreation. With vast receiver Jordyn Tyson out, Skattebo had no alternative however to ship a legendary efficiency. Someway, he exceeded expectations.
Now, Arizona State is the primary group in Huge 12 historical past to go from final place within the preseason ballot to profitable the convention in a single season. Extra importantly, the Solar Devils are all however assured of a School Soccer Playoff berth on Sunday. And no matter whether or not he will get the journey to New York, Tempe is aware of, Skattebo is a transformative participant for this system. When the very best participant in your program got here from the underside, it units the tone for everybody.
“Folks have all the time mentioned this place is a sleeping big,” Dillingham mentioned. “Nicely, you are not a sleeping big in case you by no means get up. You are a useless big, proper? Lastly, I believe these guys have purchased into not simply Arizona State, they’ve purchased into all the things that the Valley has to supply.”
