Jade Corkill roped his way back to the top of the game at the 2025 CoJo Roping, putting down a 14.25 on three head with Kaleb Driggers to win a Bill Fick Ford F-350 and Bloomer Stock Combo Trailer—his first major jackpot win in years and a defining moment in a season that marks the full return of one of team roping’s greats.
“It’s been a long time,” Corkill said. “I still have the 2011 trailer I won at George Strait, but that’s all I’ve got. It’s looking old, too.”
Corkill, 38, from Fallon, Nevada, won trucks and trailers at the George Strait Team Roping Classic in 2009 and 2011, and took second there in 2016. But the CoJo title—in a year when he’s already secured his 14th NFR qualification — hits different. With $161,566.83 won so far in 2025, Corkill sits third in the PRCA world standings heading into Las Vegas with partner Clint Summers. He’s in the thick of the gold buckle race once again.
But six months ago, none of this seemed likely.
“It’s kind of took a 180,” Corkill said. “At that point, I still didn’t really have any plans of rodeoing yet. I ended up getting a really good partner (in Summers). I really like the horse I’ve got right now. And I think just… I don’t know if it was from taking a little time off or what, but whatever happened inside of me—I wanted to be out here again.”
That internal shift has been as important as anything in the arena.
“I think now that I’ve had enough experience to go through a few different seasons of life, I’ve realized that if you don’t have that—that real want to be out here—then you have no business even being out here,” Corkill said. “Even if you do good, if you don’t want to be there, you’re wasting yours and everybody else’s time that’s involved with it.”
This season, Corkill has focused on enjoying the ride. He’s stopped letting the day-to-day swings rattle him. He’s thinking more about what kind of example he’s setting for his son, who entered his first CoJo this year and made the short round alongside his dad.
“He caught every steer he got turned and looked like he belonged,” Corkill said. “I was more nervous for him than for me. I’ve just tried to be somebody for him. Be the person I want him to be when he grows up. I’ve had way more fun watching my kids rope than me roping.”
That balance—combined with success on the ProRodeo trail with Summers—made Corkill more grounded heading into one of the biggest jackpot weekends of the year. And at the CoJo Roping, he roped with Driggers, a longtime friend and occasional partner who he knew gave him a legitimate shot to win.
“When you get to rope with him, especially at stuff like this—if you have a chance, that’s your chance,” Corkill said. “I’m just glad he still gives me a shot and still enters with me. I’m going to ride this train until it quits going.”
He and Driggers made a clean 5.2 on the first steer, and everything clicked on the second.
“I think he kind of missed the barrier a little bit and the steer stepped over to the right,” Corkill said. “Next thing I knew, the steer was turning. So I just tried to set it down there. I knew when the head loop went on that was our chance to get to the front and give ourselves a shot.”
His mindset wasn’t about playing it safe. Not anymore.
“I had in my head all weekend that I was trying to win first place,” he said. “If you don’t, that’s fine. But don’t try to do the so-called ‘right thing’ and end up winning third or fourth. Give myself a chance and just let my reactions take over. Not think about it. Just go as fast as I could and try to do my job.”
Corkill did exactly that—and it marked a full-circle moment in a year when he’s proven he still belongs at the top of the heap, both inside the arena and out.
“I’m just super blessed, super happy to be where I’m at right now,” he said. “And just trying to enjoy however much time I’ve got left out here.”
Corkill’s CoJo win came aboard Bodak Yello, the flashy palomino gelding he picked up in 2022. The horse was green when Corkill got him, but over the last three years, the two have come into sync at the highest level. Bodak Yello’s speed and honesty down the arena have made him Corkill’s No. 1, and he credits the horse as a key piece of his resurgence in 2025.
