@1NJParent, I will check with my son (who is getting a combined MS/BS this year), but I’m pretty sure that he would argue against skipping CPSC 201 Introduction to Computer Science, CPSC 202 Mathematical Tools for Computer Science, and definitely CPSC 223 Data Structures and Programming Techniques.
He was a decent programmer (and very good for his age/experience) going into the program, but he has often said how much stronger he was as a result of 223.
I got some input from him:
201 is worth taking for most people. It’s a good introduction to recursion and theoretical CS. Hardly anyone comes into college knowing what a DFA is (Deterministic Finite Automata, a computational model lower on the hierarchy than Turing machines).
Bear in mind that he falls very strongly on the Computer Science side, as opposed to the more applied side. We sometimes refer to the other side as “Code Monkeys,” which is what I was for many years and made a very good living at, but I wasn’t a Computer Scientist in the more proper use of the term. His view is that sometimes code monkeys arrive and say "okay, I know C, so I’ll take CPSC 323).
Another factor is that two of DS’s strongest mentor relationships were formed in “Introductory Classes.” He went on to do research with those professors, TA their courses, etc. He was not held back by taking the 2xx level courses, and has taken quite a few grad courses.