The Chinese calendar says 2024 was the Year of the Dragon. Over in America, though, it was the year of the running back! The position was fading out of prominence, nudging towards being obsolete. However, courtesy of some stars- new and old- across both top rungs of football, tailbacking has been resuscitated back into vogue. Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry and Ashton Jeanty have been the poster children of this RB renaissance, and rightly so. But don’t sleep on ASU alum and freshly minted NY Giant Cam Skattebo. Not like that should be a problem. Because his Sun Devils HC Kenny Dillingham is still waxing lyrical about him from those Arizona mountaintops.
Cam Skattebo’s journey from the FCS to the Big Apple had a crucial, defining stop in Tempe. A Big 12 championship, CFP appearance and 5th-place in the Heisman Trophy later, you’d say it was worthwhile. As hyperbolic as it sounds, Skattebo will go down in the annals of the ASU program. A multi-dimensional, do-it-all back akin to a Swiss Army Knife. He ran, he blocked, he caught and, heck, he even threw touchdowns off play action! All of this and more was on display against Texas in the Peach Bowl. His last ever game for Kenny Dillingham’s ASU and, befittingly, his magnum opus. A performance that shot him into the limelight and was pivotal in impressing the Giants brass and head coach Brian Daboll in selecting him out of a stacked RB draft class.
Coach Dillingham is a massive as well as vocal proponent of Cam Skattebo. Reciprocating his services to the program by endorsing him every opportunity he gets. Guesting on the Jim Rome Podcast, Coach Dillingham discussed Skattebo and Brian Daboll is getting with him. If you’re of a Giants persuasion or have the slightest rooting interest in them, you ought to be fired up by the passionate monologue Kenny Dillingham just made for his departing player.
“[The Giants are] getting a dog, absolute dog. A dude who’s going to bring it every day, a dude who’s intelligent, a dude who’s going to work his b–t off. A dude who’s got unbelievable contact balance, a dude who’s going to be able to catch the ball out of the backfield. Pass protection. A dude whose team’s going to rally behind him. Because of how hard he plays, how much passion he plays with,” resounded Kenny Dillingham. Superlatives galore, and he didn’t stop there either. “I don’t know if there’s many better fits than the New York Football Giants. So rally behind a Cam Skattebo. I can’t wait for the first time he scores a touchdown and everybody is shouting, ‘Skattebo! Skattebo!’ in that stadium. I really think it is a perfect fit. And I think he’s going to make everybody around him better,” he added. Can feel the passion permeate through the screen, really!
Now that Cam Skattebo has made the ascension from the collegiate level to the pros, he’s back to square one. He’s got to build up rep again and earn his stripes and his spot in the team. Running backs are unique in that they’ve got smaller shelf lives relative to other position groups. Too much tread on the tyres and you may begin losing potency very quickly. Franchises want to utilize their RBs are early in their careers as possible, so rookies do tend to get more game time tha those in other positions. That said- it’s still given, not earned. To his credit, the latest reverberating out of the Giants suggests Skattebo’s tryst with earning a spot in the backfield is underway.
Kenny Dillingham’s cosign doubles down on more positivity around Cam Skattebo
Over on IG, @nflrookiewatch relayed some intel and to its footprint of 73K followers and beyond. The subject was Cam Skattebo and how his time with the Giants is going so far. Safe to say the intel attests to what Kenny Dillingham asked of Brian Daboll and the fans: Rally behind the guy and you shall reap the rewards.
“Several NFL scouts reportedly believe Skattebo will ‘quickly rise’ to become the leader of the Giants RB room and the team as a whole,” read an excerpt from the aforementioned IG post. The Giants infamously let Saquon Barkley walk last year. Before he then went on to join their divisional rivals, have a historic season and win the Super Bowl. Coach Daboll needs to offset that error of judgment with Skattebo. Not just in terms of production, but leadership. Something Kenny Dillingham benefited from heaps and something that’s second nature for Skattebo.
“Skattebo has reportedly shown early on that he’s ‘mentally ahead’ of a lot of the rookies [GM] Joe Schoen has worked with,” proceeded the IG caption. That’s some massive praise, since Schoen has worked with the likes of Josh Allen in the past. Not to mention the Giants’ own Malik Nabers. There’s a lot of positive momentum behind Cam Skattebo right now. Kenny Dillingham’s most recent endorsement only fanned the flames of it. He and ASU have got their work cut out, too, concurrently. The signs do suggest that Brian Daboll’s got himself one here. But the season will bring about a litmus test, the kind of which Skattebo’s never contended with.
The post Kenny Dillingham Sends Clear Message to Brian Daboll After Cam Skattebo Reportedly Shakes Up Giants Locker Room appeared first on EssentiallySports.
