Cam Skattebo was not supposed to be solely responsible for the Arizona State rushing attack. That was the case last year and the Sun Devils‘ coaches admitted he was worn down by season’s end.
Fast forward to the current season, when the team came in with six ball carriers the coaching staff said it trusted. Skattebo wouldn’t need to carry the offense. Yet, through four games, Skattebo has 30 more carries than he did in the first four last season.
The Sun Devils (3-1, 0-1) will square off against Kansas (1-4, 0-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday at Mountain America Stadium and the good news is head coach Kenny Dillingham has his full complement of running backs available for the first time this season.
“We absolutely have to,” Dillingham said, of the need to involve others in the running game. “Our yards per carry still isn’t high enough overall as a team, especially the last two weeks. We have to increase our yards per carry. The biggest way to do that is to have some big plays and we still have not produced enough big plays in the running game. Plays that go for 30, 50 yards.
“We’ve been very old school in our running game in terms of, six yards, five yards, three yards, five yards. Eventually, you have to be explosive. I do think getting more running backs involved, keeping guys fresher, pitching more guys, is a way to do that.”
Skattebo, a solidly built 5-foot-11, 215-pounder, has been pushed early this season because of the unavailability of others in his group. He tallied 86 carries in the first four games, which led all FBS running backs. He had a career-high 33 carries for 262 yards in the 30-23 win over Mississippi State, earning him national player of the week accolades.
In 2023 his high was 24 carries and that was one of just two games in which he had 20 or more.
Skattebo has been instrumental in the passing game as well, with 13 receptions for 190 yards. That’s second to Jordyn Tyson in the receiving department.
The most notable absence this season has been that of redshirt sophomore Raleek Brown, a transfer from USC expected to complement Skattebo as more of an explosive runner capable of the big plays that Dillingham referenced. Skattebo’s trademark is the hard-nosed, run-through yards rather than breakaway speed leading to explosive gains.
Brown sustained a hamstring injury early in fall camp and missed the balance of preseason work in addition to the first two games. He had two carries against Texas State but still wasn’t right so Dillingham sat him out the next game against Texas Tech. The bye week helped Brown, who demonstrated that explosiveness this week in practice.
“He’s an explosive player,” offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo said of Brown. “He’s got big-play capability all over him. He’s got to get back on the field and get hit, take care of the football and know what we’re doing but he’s a big play guy. That’s why he’s here. That’s why I recruited him. His role in the offense is going to get better and better each week so I’m excited to get him back out here healthy.”
As for the others, junior Alton McCaskill, a transfer from Colorado, and senior DeCarlos Brooks have each played in just one game. Both were limited participants in practice before the bye week but were going full throttle this week.
Given that those players have made only cameo appearances it’s a bit surprising sophomore Kyson Brown, who has been healthy, has only gotten 11 carries, although he also has five receptions, one of those going 68 yards for a touchdown against Wyoming. He has played on special teams as well.
The other player in the fold is true freshman Jason Brown, a four-star recruit out of Seattle.
Running backs coach Shaun Aguano said Brown and McCaskill have been slower to work into the mix because they didn’t arrive until the summer and didn’t have the benefit of participating in spring drills. ASU is McCaskill’s third stop. He ran for 961 yards as a true freshman at Houston in 2021, then missed all of 2022 due to injury.
“It was hard for those guys to come here in the summer and pick up the offense,” Aguano said. “Those other guys had it in the spring so they’re a little step behind but I like their talent and we’ll see how it plays out. That room is pretty loaded right now.”
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU football’s rushing attack needs more than Cam Skattebo
