EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — To understand where Cam Skattebo is going and how he is getting there, you have to understand where he has been. So it was a good time on Thursday to ask him about a hometown that is 2,800 miles away from the home office of the New York Football Giants.
Rio Linda, Calif., is a census-designated place without a mayor, and a piece of small-town America that the late radio host, Rush Limbaugh, used to mock all the time. Skattebo was not aware of that, and yet he spoke as someone who is used to defending his home turf.
“If you’re not from there and you don’t know about it,” he said, “just don’t talk about it.”
New Yorkers know the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Skattebo as an angry and violent ball carrier who hunts would-be tacklers for the purpose of punishing them before they can punish him. They know him as the “other” half of the Giants’ dynamic first-year duo, the perfect partner for a quarterback, Jaxson Dart, who looks like a 15-year keeper at the most important position in professional sports.
Though Skattebo is not the biggest or the fastest guy in the world, he is a freakish athlete who entered the league with a 39.5-inch vertical leap, three inches better than Russell Westbrook’s vertical when he entered the NBA.
Skattebo scores touchdowns. Skattebo performs backflips. But as much as anything, Skattebo represents the working-class people of Rio Linda, who molded him into this big-market force of nature.
“I grew up with a lot of different cultures and with people who taught me a lot of what not to do and what to do,” the rookie said. “Everybody knows everybody there. When you’re in that little town, you know the homeless people’s names and you know they’re not causing any issues. … You know everything about everybody.
“There’s crime, but there’s not very much. In our little town, we keep each other safe and try not to bother each other. It’s just the way it’s been while I was growing up.”
Skattebo’s mother, Becky, is a longtime professional in the medical field. His father, Leonard III, is a former star athlete at Rio Linda High School who is an operations manager for a pest control service. His big brother, Leonard IV, was an accomplished Rio Linda player himself. They are all fiercely proud of their roots.
“But it’s definitely hard,” Cam said, “to come from there and do what I do.”
You need belief.
You need values.
And you need a community that instills a whole lot of both.
Football was critical
Becky Skattebo worked nights so she could be available for her four children and their pursuits during the day. She recalled that Leonard IV, whom she had as a teenager, broke his femur in ninth grade and yet was on the sideline supporting his team, in a cast, two days after surgery.
“You don’t miss anything,” she said, “and that’s something ingrained in our kids. You show up whether you can fully engage or not, or whether you feel 100 percent or not. We didn’t do family vacations. If you’re part of a team, you can’t let that team down because you decided to go to Disneyland.”
Becky and her husband divorced during Cam’s high school years, and it was tough on the kid. Very tough. Football was a critical part of the healing process. “It gave Cameron an outlet for his frustration, anger, hurt, whatever he was feeling,” his mother said. “He had a healthy release for that on the field.”
Cam’s coach at Rio Linda, Jack Garceau, was a valuable source of support. So were neighbors and friends who acted more like family members in a place where the locals often congregated in one house — the Skattebos’.
“People are embedded here,” Becky said. “They grow up here, move away, and then still seem to find their way back. I’m currently living on a piece of property that my grandparents built and my dad was raised on.
“And the transplants who move in, they tend to come here without realizing that towns like this still exist … where the whole town comes out for the flea market and Friday night football.”
‘Everybody is tough’
The Giants have suited up great players from all kinds of relatively small places. Their first Super Bowl MVP, Phil Simms, was born on his grandfather’s tobacco farm in Springfield, Ky., population of 2,000. Their legendary linebacker, Sam Huff, was born and raised in a coal mining camp in West Virginia. Their greatest player, Lawrence Taylor, was born and raised in historic Williamsburg, Va., a town (population of 9,000 back then) that was smaller than Skattebo’s in Northern California (pop. 16,000).
But the Giants have never dressed anyone who better embodies the ethos of his hometown than Skattebo, who once punctuated a state championship game victory by telling The Sacramento Bee, “I’d do anything for this town. I live and die for this town.”
He wasn’t talking about the state capital. He was talking about his humble outpost a dozen miles to the north, where they celebrate Farm and Tractor Days every spring.
It’s a place where an honest day’s work is much more than a suggestion.
“Where Cam comes from, everybody is tough,” Garceau said. “The men here are usually construction workers, pest control workers, concrete workers, and the moms often work for the county or the state. We try to mirror the football program after the community and be tough like that.”
John Todd, the founder of RioLindaonline.com and a member of the chamber of commerce board of directors, said the residents appreciate that Skattebo identifies himself as a product of Rio Linda, and not of Sacramento. Todd, 56, has essentially spent his entire life in Rio Linda. He has served as the official announcer for the annual Christmas Light Parade and for the high school’s football games under those Friday night lights, and as the unofficial head referee to throw flags at every misconception repeated about his hometown.
“We are an economically depressed community always on the lookout for some kind of growth,” Todd said. “The majority of people from here scrape for anything they can get.”
Very few have ever scraped quite like Cam Skattebo did.
And yet the running back didn’t put Rio Linda on the map in 2018 by setting a NorCal record with 3,550 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns and leading his school to its first state championship. Limbaugh, conservative provocateur, did that as a Sacramento radio host in the 1980s, when he used his KFBK show to refer to Rio Linda as “the benighted armpit of Sacramento,” complete with tireless cars on concrete blocks in front yards and washing machines and dryers on front porches.
“Any time I say something I think is remotely complicated,” Limbaugh once said on the air, “I will try to translate it for Rio Lindans so that they can understand it.”
Becky was only a kid back then. “I was riding in the car with my grandma as she was listening to (Limbaugh) bashing us,” she recalled. Many locals thought the radio man’s criticisms were patently untrue.
“But he kept talking about us,” Becky said, “and that says something.”
Rio Linda had made its mark on Rush Limbaugh too.
Cameron ‘Houdini’
At the high school, Garceau was smart enough to build his offense around a back who, as a junior, ran for more yards in a season than did NorCal titans like O.J. Simpson and Marshawn Lynch.
“The legend of Cam Skattebo,” Garceau said, “goes all the way back to when he was 3 or 4 years old.” Becky knows because she was there, watching in horror near her kitchen sink when her preschool son did his first successful backflip on the hard tile floor. This was before Cam threw on his brother’s football equipment and charged straight into telephone poles.
Becky called him Cameron “Houdini” back then. “That name embodies who he is,” Becky said, “because he pulls off the impossible.”
Cam Skattebo goes airborne after a two-point conversion against the Los Angeles Chargers. (Ishika Samant / Getty Images)
Skattebo was a virtual circus act at Rio Linda High. Down six points in the fourth quarter of the 2018 regional title game against West Valley, Skattebo decided on his own to keep a football he was supposed to hand off on a designed reverse and dropped back to pass. He took his time before scrambling to his left and firing the ball downfield while getting blasted on the release. His quarterback, Tyson Ybarra, came down with it and raced into the end zone before Skattebo sealed the victory on the next possession with a 70-yard touchdown run.
Amid the chaos, Garceau asked his running back why it took so long for him to throw the ball on the scrapped reverse. “I was counting our linemen to make sure they were not downfield,” Skattebo replied. He did all this a week after scoring seven touchdowns against Casa Roble.
The following week, Skattebo was good for 393 yards and three touchdowns in an epic 38-35 victory over San Gorgonio High of San Bernardino for the state title. He broke nine or ten tackles on one absurd 67-yard touchdown run.
Seeing Cam Skattebo become a fan favorite in the NFL is so so cool – I remember him breaking off the most impressive run I’ve ever seen back when he was at Rio Linda pic.twitter.com/iO2MY0rdKo
— Jack Dann (@JackBDann) October 3, 2025
Throughout his career, Todd said, “Cam ran over the entire north half of the state.” It was a big deal to deliver that kind of smackdown to an opponent from the southern half.
Skattebo was slowed some his senior year by a shoulder injury, but still, he deserved attention from the highest of the high major schools. UCLA, USC and BYU were among the heavyweights that came through, but on further review, everyone took a pass. Not a single FBS program made Skattebo an offer.
“It was something different every week,” Garceau said. “It was his height, then they were afraid of his durability, then he wasn’t fast enough, then he wasn’t playing the top-level competition. It was anything you can possibly think of. And I’m like, ‘Man, the kid carried his team to a state championship.’”
Skattebo was forced to start his college journey at the FCS level. Garceau knew a coach at Sacramento State and sent him a highlight tape. The coach didn’t need much time in the film room to realize Skattebo belonged in one of the Power 4 conferences.
“We feel like we’re stealing him,” he said.
“Well,” Garceau said, “you pretty much are.”
Inspired by his roots
After two years at Sac State, Skattebo entered the portal for a shot at the big time. Shaun Aguano, Arizona State running backs coach, had to determine if this kid was worthy of that shot.
“I spent three hours in Cam’s home with his family and I knew he was special,” Aguano said. “You could see his face and eyes light up when we talked about him being the underdog and wanting to prove to everybody that he could play at the highest level. His want-to and love for football were the most intriguing things to me.
“You wonder how many people love this game — Cam really loves this game.”
He loved it enough to change after the Sun Devils went 3-9 in 2023. Aguano and ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham told the back that he needed to make a greater commitment in the gym, that he needed to reshape his bowling-ball body and become leaner, meaner and faster, if he wanted to play in the NFL. Skattebo returned for his final season as one of the very best players in America. And as one who felt he’d been disrespected his entire life.
He finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting and nearly beat Texas in their Peach Bowl Playoff quarterfinal, running for 143 yards and two touchdowns, catching eight passes for 99 yards, and even throwing a 42-yard scoring pass in a breathless comeback that ended in a double-overtime defeat.
Cam Skattebo runs in the tying two-point conversion for Arizona State during the fourth quarter against Texas in last season’s Peach Bowl. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
While Skattebo was giving the Sun Devils a school-record 2,316 yards from scrimmage during his senior season, forcing 102 missed tackles along the way (according to Pro Football Focus), he was inspired by his roots.
“You know where I’m from?” Cam would ask Aguano.
“Yeah, I know where you’re from,” the coach would reply.
“He always had that in his back pocket and used that to his advantage,” Aguano said. “That town was the chip on his shoulder, proving to everybody that he could make it. It was his lifestyle, his belief that nobody could stop him.
“I tried to develop him and teach him … when to run out of bounds. But when those lights come on, he’s going to try to hurt somebody. I haven’t seen anyone play with that kind of violence.”
The Giants drafted him in the fourth round.
Cam Skattebo, the former zero-star recruit out of high school, believes he should have been drafted in the first round.
Of course he does.
A human headbutt
Grown men and women in LT and Eli Manning jerseys loved to chant the rookie’s last name even before he scored three touchdowns against the defending champion Eagles. It has quite a ring to it. According to myheritage.com, the Skattebo surname is believed to have originated in Norway and is “intertwined with the broader narrative of Scandinavian history, including the impact of the Viking Age, the establishment of feudal systems, and the evolution of rural communities.”
No mention of the balance of power in the NFC East.
Jaxson Dart (6) bumps heads with Skattebo after the Giants defeated the Eagles 34-17. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
But after six games, the Giants have a back who is just ahead of Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey on the NFL’s total rushing yardage list (with far fewer attempts than both), and who has as many or more rushing touchdowns than every man in the league not named Jonathan Taylor or Josh Jacobs.
Beyond the numbers, Skattebo has become an instant cult figure as a cross between two ballers from the Eli and Tom Coughlin era. He has Jeremy Shockey’s WWE personality, times two, and he has Brandon Jacobs’ hunger for blasting defenders, minus five inches and 50 pounds.
Skattebo is a human headbutt who will scream Ric Flair’s signature woo after pancaking a linebacker or after ripping off his shirt on Amazon Prime.
Some Cam Skattebo and Ryan Fitzpatrick disrobing happening pic.twitter.com/ib9UutxJgH
— Cronkite News: Phoenix Sports (@sportscronkite) October 10, 2025
“Carnage creator with a compact frame and elite contact balance,” read the Giants’ scouting report on him. Skattebo has been every bit of that.
Now people are questioning how long he can sustain this style of play, especially in an age of heightened awareness around head injuries.
“Is it sustainable? I hope so,” Garceau said. “If anybody can do it, it’s him. … He’s not going to change his style of player to last longer, because that’s just not who he is.”
Skattebo’s approach long ago earned him a hopelessly devoted fan base back home. According to Todd, Rio Linda used to be 80 percent 49ers fans, 20 percent Raiders fans.
“But now you have this little blue dot at the northern edge of Sacramento County,” Todd said. “It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve seen — people around town wearing Giants jerseys and hats. This place has become a New York Giants stronghold in Northern California, and it’s all because of Cam.”
Skattebo said his rise to prominence is all about Becky. “My mom raised a great kid,” he said. “She’s the reason I’m at where I’m at.”
In turn, Becky Skattebo wants New Yorkers to know that, when he’s off duty, her son is the polar opposite of the character he plays on the field. He loves children. He loves animals. He loves helping an elderly person get groceries out of the car.
“He has a very kind heart, and for me, that’s the scariest part of this,” Becky said. “He’s so known out there now, you worry about that changing him. But I don’t think so. That’s inherently who Cameron is. He refuses to let things change him.”
So expect the rookie to remain the same person and player on the Broadway stage that he was across the country in Rio Linda. If nothing else, Cam Skattebo will keep attacking opponents the only way he knows how.
Face first.