Cam Skattebo had a helluva finish to his college career in 2024. After transferring from Sacramento State to Arizona State in 2023, Skattebo took over the Sun Devils backfield in 2024 and ran for 1,711 yards (2nd in the nation) and 21 TDs (t-6th). And yet, despite his proven production, Skattebo got short shrift at the NFL Draft, falling to the fourth round.
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31 teams are likely kicking themselves just four weeks into Skattebo’s NFL career, however. He’s already taken over the RB1 role for the New York Giants, and he looks just as energized—and effective—as he was in the desert last year. So far, he has 279 scrimmage yards and two TDs on 60 touches. He’s clearly still the same dog that puked on the sideline then went for nearly 300 all-purpose yards in last season’s Peach Bowl.
Unsurprisingly, he was named the game’s MVP (he also rushed for two TDs and threw a TD in the double overtime loss in the CFP quarterfinal) because of his on-field play. But the real story was always the pre-game vomit. Everyone wanted to know how he was able to overcome that. But more importantly, why did he have to puke before the game? His answer to Dan Patrick was the most obvious.
“I think I was drinking a little too much water and Powerade. And I think I ate something bad in the morning. I had a croissant breakfast sandwich, and I don’t think it went down very well. And I wasn’t feeling too good leading up to the game. Until I threw up. I threw up, and I felt like a completely different person. And after that throw up, the game switched for me, and how I was playing. It was completely different for me.”
The hard-nosed running back who can find a way to get dirt on his jersey even when he’s playing on artificial turf continued to describe in detail the exact moment when it happened.
“I looked down, took a deep breath, puked, took another deep breath, took another deep breath, and then got back on the field and played my game of football. I leaned over, let it all out, then got back up and put my helmet on and was like, ‘Let’s go.'”
Skattebo had to come out with the real story because if not, the media would have run with a different one. Skattebo was photographed at a bar the night before the game, so the logic went that he was puking because he was irresponsible and hungover. But that was not true, as he told Peter Schrager recently.
“My best friend’s dad stopped drinking, so we’re sitting there hanging out, having some water. One of my boys had a beer, his dad had a water. So we’re sitting there, and someone snaps a picture of us, because I was saying no pictures, I didn’t really wanna take pictures that night, I wasn’t feeling it. Then it comes out the next day, Skat was at the bar drinking. No, that was not the case.”
While Skattebo originally said it was some sort of croissant sandwich that was the last straw, he told Schrager that it was some sort of omelette. The issue was that he ordered the omelette early, but didn’t eat it until some time later. He believes the reheated omelette to be the culprit.
