When asked where this mentality came from, the young back credited his family for helping him adopt this mindset.

“Just growing up in a hard background and with an older brother that picked on me a little bit when I was younger,” Skattebo said. “He set me up for success, and my dad also being hard on me as a kid, understanding where I could take this football stuff in life, and he preached on me every day about it, and it’s now coming to light.”

In his final game with the Sun Devils, Skattebo was named the Peach Bowl Offensive MVP, even though Arizona State lost in double overtime to Texas in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal. He earned this honor due to his incredible performance that included 30 carries for 143 yards and two touchdowns along with eight catches for an additional 99 yards.

The do-it-all running back, who even registered eight punts for 338 yards (42.3 avg.) during his junior campaign back in 2023, also threw a 42-yard touchdown pass in the CFP loss to Texas.

“He plays with great contact balance,” his new head coach told the media after the draft. “He’s tough as nails. You can use him a variety of ways. Pass game, he can catch, he can run routes, he can throw the ball, as you’ve seen on one of those, and he’s got very good vision and quick feet.”

Now Skattebo enters a Giants backfield led by second-year back Tyrone Tracy Jr., who is coming off a promising rookie campaign himself. Last year’s fifth-round pick finished second among rookie running backs with 839 rushing yards and 1,123 total yards from scrimmage.

Both running backs excel in the passing game. However, there are some notable differences in the running style of Tracy and Skattebo. While the former relies more on his speed, elusiveness and athleticism to force missed tackles, the latter takes the more physical approach of trying to run over opposing defenders, something he believes helps motivate the guys around him.

“Physicality is definitely contagious,” Skattebo said after being drafted. “If someone gets ran over, it hypes the other guys up and it gets them going. I’m going to continue to bring that and hopefully it feeds off on to my teammates.”

Tracy and Skattebo are joined in the running back room by veteran Devin Singletary, 25-year-old Eric Gray, and second-year back Dante “Turbo” Miller, the latter of whom spent the 2024 season on the team’s practice squad. With the level of talent in the room, it remains to be seen how carries will be split up between all of the backs.

While the rookie is likely to see touches in his first NFL season, one route he could possibly take to get on the field even more would be on special teams, a role the 23-year-old would be happy to embrace.

“I did play some special teams, something I can do, something I will do in the league, and something I’m going to take very prideful in what I do because that can lead to a long career,” he told reporters on draft weekend. “I’m excited to, like I said, play any role that they give me, and it’s going to be fun.”

It was clear the Giants put an emphasis on adding a certain type of player in this year’s draft, something the team’s new running back exemplifies to a T.

“Toughness all the way through the draft was something that we have talked about, both mental and physical,” Daboll said. “I think Skattebo has got both.”