ASU looking for guys who will run 'Skatt plays' this spring

By Adam Beadle

Multimedia Specialist

Arizona State senior running back Cameron Skattebo and head coach Kenny Dillingham talking to Fox Sports following ASU's Territorial Cup victory over Arizona. (Adam Beadle/Staff)

Arizona State will return more than half of its roster from last season to the gridiron this year but will be missing one key player: Cameron Skattebo.

Skattebo is undoubtedly one of the most significant reasons the Sun Devils made a run to the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff, putting up offensive totals of 2,358 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2024. The swiss-army knife of a running back did everything from running the ball, catching it, throwing it, and yes, even kicking it at times.

“It’s hard to find a guy like (Skattebo),” ASU running backs coach Shawn Agauno Said. “I think that’s generational.”

Between the newcomers in the room like Army West Point transfer junior Kanye Udoh and freshman Demarius Robinson or returners like rising juniors Kyson Brown and Raleek Brown, the skill traits of the running backs in ASU’s backfield are very diverse. However, replacing Skattebo’s contact-balance abilities may be more complex than any other, according to Agauno.

“We ask for three, four yards (from a running back), and that’s an efficient play,” Aguano said. “Now efficient to (Skattebo) was hit after three or four, and then he goes 30 (yards). And so those are the things that, how do you make up those yards in this offense coming up? And who's going to replace those?”

Offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo may already have an answer to Aguano’s question. Finding guys who will run “Skatt Plays.”

“I can't just go, ‘There’s 2,700 yards out the window,’” Arroyo said. “We got to recruit and find guys like (Udoh) or find guys like (Robinson). (Kyson’s) got to step up, and I got to figure out which piece of the puzzle I can take those category plays and plug those guys in.”

Udoh quickly jumps out as a guy who plays with a style similar to Skattebo's. The 6-foot, 215-pound back totaled 1,117 yards, No. 28 in total yards among FBS running backs, and 10 touchdowns last season, which helped lead Army West Point to an American Atlantic Conference Championship against Tulane.

“I liked his downhill one-cut ability,” Aguano said. “Now I haven't seen him in full force, working with me from the flexibility side and diversifying catching the football out of the backfield, so I got to see that still, but you know, I'm excited about his bigness, his toughness, especially from a mental standpoint.”

Agauno even called Udoh "tough as nails," a metaphor often used to describe how Skattebo played last season.

However, “Skatt plays” may not solely belong to the running back group. 

Arroyo said there may be areas where guys like junior wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, who the Associated Press selected as a third-team All-American, senior tight end Chamon Metayer, or Kentucky transfer junior tight end Khamari Anderson.

“I got to find 500 yards of scat plays that I figure won't go to the backfield,” Arroyo said. That might have to go to (Anderson) or (Tyson) or (Metayer) or a different personnel group. ‘Where can I find that and divvy it up?’ is the way I look at it to be able to be productive.”

Regardless of how “Skatt Plays” are distributed next season, the question of who will be ASU’s starting running back in the first week of the season against Northern Arizona remains one of the biggest as spring camp approaches.

“I just want to see from a mental standpoint, who can rise to the occasion, and who can stay at that, and so it's going to be a test for all of (the running backs),” Aguano said.