Welcome to Headliners and Hidden Gems where we are going to highlight the best performers each week, while also looking at some of the under-the-radar performances as well.

Headliner: Kade Bruno – Of all of the cowboys in all of the events, there is no one having a better season than saddle bronc rider Kade Bruno. He has already made two 92+ Point Rides, the most recent coming on Straight Moonshine to win the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo over the weekend. Bruno will widen his lead in the PRCA World Standings and has started 2025 with 11 straight rides of 83 points or better and 11 straight checks.

Hidden Gem: Hayden Welsh and Tyler Kippes – At the Bullnanza in Guthrie, Oklahoma on Feb. 7 and 8, Welsh and Kippes rode for 90.5 and 90 points respectively. Both bull riders are 21-years-old or younger and they bested a field that also included Ky Hamilton, Wacey Schalla, JR Stratford, Tate Pollmeier, and Jace Trosclair.

Headliner: Maverick Potter – The Texas native was the only bull rider to go 4-for-4 in Fort Worth and capped off his first Texas Swing victory with an 89.5-point ride on Sutton Rodeo’s Mr. Demon. It was his highest marked ride since April of 2023.

Hidden Gem: Sage Allen – In a bareback riding bracket in San Antonio that included Leighton Berry and Cole Reiner, it was 21-year-old Sage Allen, who had won less than $3,000 this season, who came out on top. He made three straight rides of 85 points or better and won at least $1,300 for each. All told, he has already made over $6,000 in San Antone.

Headliner: Garrett Shadbolt – The Nebraska bareback rider won Rodeo Rapid City with 88.5 points over the weekend to win $5,500 and maintain his No. 2 spot in the PRCA World Standings. Shadbolt has 12 straight rides of 80 points or better to start the 2025 season. He won Rapid City the last time he competed there in 2022 as well.

Hidden Gem: T Parker – With his flashy style in and out of the arena, it’s tough to call the 21-year-old Parker hidden, but he did spend most of 2024 away from ProRodeo after making the NFR in 2023. Back at full strength in 2024, he was 90 in his Semifinal before finishing second in the Finals in Fort Worth. At both the Bell County PRCA Rodeo (Texas) and Dixie National (Mississippi), he rode for 84.5 over the weekend as well. He is 14-of-20 in the 2025 season.

Headliner: Brandon Harrison – Harrison bested a bulldogging field in Bracket 2 that included reigning World Champion JD Struxness and eight-time NFR qualifier Nick Guy. Along the way, Harrison made the fastest run of his career and the fastest of San Antonio so far, a 3.4. Harrison made the Finals in San Antonio in 2023, the only other time he has competed there.

Hidden Gem: Tucker Shoun – The 18-year-old bull rider had made $964 in his career before the Cinch World’s Toughest in Winston Salem. There, he rode Two Guns for 87 points to win over $6,000.

Headliner: Stetson Wright – After not being qualified for Fort Worth, the eight-time World Champion started his Texas Swing off with a bang. In Bracket 1, he was the only bull rider to go 3-for-3, extending his streak to eight in a row to start the 2025 season. While saddle bronc riding in Bracket 2, he advanced second with nearly $5,000, more than half of which came from his 86.5-point ride on Lost Hope to win Round 3.

Hidden Gem: Cole Hollen – The 23-year-old rookie bareback rider from Liberty Hill, Texas won the Cinch World’s Toughest in Winston Salem with 85.5 points, which is impressive in its own right. But more impressive, however, is the group of competitors he bested, which included Orin Larsen, Tim O’Connell, Richmond Champion, Sam Peterson, Garrett Shadbolt and Dean Thompson.

Headliner: Shad Mayfield – No one has owned the Texas Swing like the 2024 All-Around World Champion recently and he proved it again in 2025 by repeating as the tie-down roping champion in Fort Worth. For the second straight year, Mayfield won both his Semifinal and the Finals and he has ascended to No. 1 in the PRCA World Standings, leading by almost $20,000.

Hidden Gem: Clay Smith/Coleby Payne – Smith/Payne won Fort Worth last year with a 4.5-second run and made three runs faster than that in 2025, including a pair of 3.8s to win the Wildcard and their Semifinal. They left with $8,300 from the rodeo despite no time in the Finals.

Headliner: Jake Lockwood – Since the beginning of January, Lockwood has competed in just two rodeos and won both. The most recent was Rodeo Rapid City where he was 87.5 points earn a payday of nearly $6,000. He is No. 5 in the PRCA Bull Riding World Standings and has ridden four bulls in a row.

Hidden Gem: Owen Brouillette – The Louisiana native got it done in Mississippi with an 88-point ride on Korkow Rodeos’ Tator Tot to lead the Dixie National with through the first four performances. If it holds, it will be the 21-year-old’s first career PRCA Playoff Series win.