Despite an injured shoulder, Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo desperately tried to play last week against Central Florida.
So much so that he texted coach Kenny Dillingham an hour before kickoff before later asking him again mid-game if he could put his pads on.
“It was challenging, (Skattebo) texted me an hour before kickoff, ‘Are we doing this?’
‘Doing what? You’re out,’ Dillingham replied. “Like what do you mean? What are we doing? Yeah, we’re playing, and you’re gonna be a great teammate,” Dillingham said on Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta.
Dillingham said Skattebo later asked him if he should put his pads on at halftime.
“And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? No, we are fine!’”
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On Monday, Dillingham shared a similar story and said Skattebo was also trying to go into the game during the third quarter.
“He was trying to get me to put him in the game in the middle of the third quarter, like, ‘Let me go get suited up,’” Dillingham said on Monday. “‘No, no, you’re not going to get suited up. Not happening.’”
Skattebo was ultimately held out of ASU’s win over UCF on Saturday but he remains on track to return this week at Kansas State.
“He’s doing really well,” Dillingham said Wednesday. “He’s gonna play. Barring something changing, you would expect him to play the football game, so I fully expect him to play this week unless something changes.”
Skattebo practiced on Tuesday and Wednesday after Dillingham said the running back would be questionable for Saturday’s matchup coming into the week.
The senior remains eighth in the country in rushing yards per game at 125.
Skattebo also sits 10th in the nation with 1,001 rushing yards in eight games played, and he is second in all-purpose yards only trailing Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty.
The Sun Devil has won Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week four times this season.
“Last week, when I said ‘questionable to doubtful’ none of y’all believed me, everybody’s used to people playing games,” Dillingham said Monday. “They have to go do it, feel comfortable, feel good about it, otherwise putting them out there isn’t doing them justice to themselves. It’s my job to protect them from them.”
The Sun Devils and Kansas State will kick off at 5 p.m. on Saturday on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.