The Arizona State running back opted out of the 40 yard dash, as well as many other drills and events at the combine. He did however have an impressive vertical and a chat with David Spade.
Cam Skattebo chose to go to the combine and only participate in the few events he knew would look good amongst his cohort. He absolutely nailed the vert with a 39.5” jump — tying for 2nd in his positional group and 12th among all combine participants. He also chose to showcase a decent 10’3” broad jump, both of which were good enough to award him a 90th percentile burst score. Skattebo cited a hamstring injury for his lack of participation in the other activities. The odd thing is, hamstrings are pretty important in jumping but not as much in the bench press… which was an event Cam sat out of.
In all honesty this was probably the smart play for a prospect that has as much production as him but a lot of uncertainty about projecting that production to the next level. A slow 40 time would crush his draft stock — especially amongst the fastest cohort in the history of the combine (See Gordon, Ollie II). The eyebrow raiser for me was sitting out on field drills and not having a go at the bench press. Part of Skattebo’s brand is his strength, contact balance and surprising fluidity, which would have been showcased if he was able to participate. I’m still a believer in the talent, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens at his upcoming pro day.
Author: Lukasz Stec (@Lukasz_FF01)
