TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Cam Skattebo puts Newton's second law of motion into practice every time he touches the ball. The law is an equation stating, in layman's terms, that the acceleration of an object is dependent on its mass and the force acting upon it.
If something gets in the way, the severity of the collision hinges on the amount of mass and amount of force — the higher the speed or larger the mass, the bigger the crash. Skattebo has the mass with a low center of gravity, tree-trunk legs and the split-second ability to calculate the angles that will create more force. The Arizona State senior running back's speed comes naturally, accentuated by an unrelenting need to initiate contact.
“If a car gets T-boned, the person getting T-boned is going to feel it more than the person expecting it,” Skattebo said. “So I always like to initiate the pain, initiate the hit, because I don't want to feel the pain.” Skattebo has been dishing out pain since charging full speed into his kneeling older brother Leo in the family's Northern California living room.
He continued to punish at Rio Linda High School and during two seasons at Sacramento State before transferring to Arizona State in 2023. Skattebo — pronounced Skate-BOO — has been a jackhammer during his two seasons in the desert, bludgeoning anyone who dares to try to tackle him. He ran for 788 yards last season while filling in at numerous positions and has 848 yards with 10 touchdowns through seven games this seas.