Cam Skattebo trying to mature in Year 2 : ‘I do some dumb things … but I learned from it’

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The first practice of New York Giants training camp hadn’t even started before Cam Skattebo made his presence known. The young running back channeled his inner Ric Flair and let out one of his signature “Wooooooos.”

Walking out of The Greenbrier Sports Performance Center and onto the field on Wednesday, Skattebo’s entrance wasn’t a surprise to anyone, as his shout carried over general manager Joe Schoen’s news conference.

“There’s Skat,” Schoen said with a smile. “Shocker.”

Since his arrival last year as a fourth-round rookie, that’s been Skattebo. He’s at 110 percent all the time, supercharged, energized and always talking; and that personality has earned him a legion of fans. Last season, Skattebo forged a bond with a fellow charismatic rookie, quarterback Jaxson Dart, and the duo quickly emerged as the beloved new faces of the Giants.

In fact, Skattebo became beloved in more places than just New York. One example: After suffering what turned out to be a gruesome season-ending ankle injury in Philadelphia, Eagles fans at Lincoln Financial Field gave him a standing ovation as he was carted off the field. Sure, that’s common enough among fans when such an injury occurs, but it was still surprising coming from a home crowd of NFC East rivals.

Cam Skattebo on the backflips: “Obviously I do some dumb things here and there but I learned from it.” #giants pic.twitter.com/z0DvR7Y6rv

— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) July 31, 2026

To the surprise of no one, the injury didn’t slow Skattebo down much — if at all. He showed up inside a WWE ring soon after suffering his injury, and he continued to stay in the spotlight throughout the offseason.

In May, the 24-year-old showed off his recovery by doing one of his signature celebratory backflips at teammate Brian Burns’ charity softball game. Notably, he stuck the landing on that backflip. In July, however, he made national headlines after awkwardly landing an attempted backflip on the Fanatics Fest stage in New York. Skattebo later said he was “perfectly fine” and that the floor was bouncy, so he did not anticipate how much it would give.

Coach John Harbaugh first addressed the matter with a sense of humor.

“My reaction was this: ‘Dude, at least stick it. I mean, land the thing if you’re going to do it, you know?’” Harbaugh said on the Bleav in Giants podcast.

Schoen echoed Harbaugh’s sentiment on his first reaction to seeing the video. While out to dinner on vacation, he sent a quick text message to confirm Skattebo was OK.

“He’s a young man that’s still getting used to the spotlight and in New York City, and you got to be conscious of your actions, not only from a health standpoint, but a perception standpoint,” Schoen said. “But he knows I’d rather him not do that, especially this close to camp. But it’s also a testament to how good of a job our training staff did and medical staff did in terms of getting him back and ready to go.”

When asked how much he talks with Skattebo about taking care of himself outside the building, Harbaugh said, “We talk about everything all the time.”

“Those things, that, other things have come up every day with Skatt or anybody else,” Harbaugh said. “There are a lot of guys we talk to every single day. We have interactions with everybody on the team. So, Skatt and I have had, I don’t know, five, six really good conversations since he got back. That might have been talked about in there with some other stuff.”

Pressed on the “might have been,” Harbaugh said there might be a “good chance.”

“I think it’s just part of the ongoing process, just communication, being on the same page, trying to be the best we can be in everything we do,” Harbaugh said. “He’s great. He wants to be great. He listens and talks and tells you what he thinks. It’s all good.”

Harbaugh added that the big-picture message is that he wants players taking care of themselves.

“I mean, obviously I do some dumb things here and there, but I learn from it,” Skattebo said. “My coach talked to me, told me how he felt, and I learned from it. And will I go do that back flip again? Probably not. We live and we learn, and we move on.”

Skattebo said he’s feeling close to 100 percent, which for him will come when he’s able to put on shoulder pads and hit someone. His presence has been palpable to start training camp, not only because he’s on the receiving end of Dart handoffs, but because fans are constantly screaming his name.

On Friday, he ran up the length of the field to high-five fans before practice started.

“People say I’m the people’s guy, so I’m going to continue to be people’s guy,” Skattebo said. “Giving kids high-fives, you never know when that kid’s going to cry because he got a high five from me. I’m going to continue to be who I am and hopefully make everybody happy around me and continue to be positive. If a kid wants a backflip, he’ll see the backflip when it’s touchdown time.”