Nobody has ever had the kind of year that Kaleb Driggers has had in 2025 in the history of team roping, and it’s far from over.
Driggers has won every major title in the jackpot realm this year; he finished the ProRodeo regular season No. 1 in the world standings; and he won The American for the fifth time.
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The 35-year-old from Hoboken, Georgia won a trailer for his win with Nicky Northcott at the Lone Star Shootout, and he won a Bill Fick Ford F-350 and Bloomer Stock Combo Trailer for his win at the CoJo Roping Oct. 11 with Jade Corkill. All told, Driggers has won $729,497 in PRCA, Global Handicaps, futurity and American Rodeo earnings, plus the value of the truck and two trailers, easily putting him over $885,000 in earnings on the year with three months.
So what does he think of the feat?
“I don’t know, I just want to win the world,” Driggers said—straight faced. “I never imagined this would happen. We had such humble beginnings. But I told my wife yesterday I had to go get my truck and trailer. I’m ready for Las Vegas. We might get two buckles out there, but we’ll for sure get one. You have to speak positive. I’m tired of sending my buckles to Terrell.”
(Editor’s note: Driggers said that last part in jest.)
He’s calling his shot—Driggers wants to win $1 million this year—and with the American Rope Horse Futurity Association’s World Finals, The Hondo Rodeo and the NFR yet to go, that number seems well within reach.
“An average NFR is $100,000 now,” Driggers said. “And we’re not going to have an average NFR.”
The CoJo Roping Win
Driggers has roped and won with different partners at jackpots throughout the year, but his consistency hasn’t wavered. He approached the CoJo Roping—one of the highest-paying three-headers in the game—with one goal: win it all.
“Yeah, just kind of went into it with the mindset of trying to win it,” Driggers said. “I feel like that’s one of the reasons why I’ve never had great success at these three-head ropings, because I always just try and get through the first one, second one, see where we’re at. And today I just started out aggressive.”
He roped the first steer in 5.2 despite not throwing a great loop. With fast times already posted on two, he made the call to go for broke.
“I was talking to Clint (Summers) and I said, ‘I think I’m going to cock it,’” Driggers said. “He said, ‘No, just hold it down. I never cock it.’ I said, ‘Man, I’m going first.’ He said, ‘Screw it. Cock it.’”
Driggers did, and it paid off. He and Jade Corkill roped aggressively all day and came out on top in one of the deepest lineups of the year.
“That was probably the best I’ve ever roped in a one-header,” Driggers said. “You can’t stub your toe. And Jade was flawless.”
Driggers made the run aboard his 2012 gelding BHR Super Shake, a horse he recently bought back from Riley Minor. The horse has all kinds of speed, by BHR Super Frost by Frenchmans Guy and out of BHR Special Shake Up by Shake It Special.
He’d considered riding his horse 45, who fits better inside, but 45 wasn’t feeling 100 percent.
“Honestly, I probably would’ve rode 45 today just because he’s a little bit better inside than Frosty is, but he’s not 100 percent off the EPM,” Driggers said. “I do as much as I can for him to try and keep him feeling as good as he can, but I’m going to just kind of let him hang out and relax and try to keep him really good for the NFR.”
Oliver was another option, but Driggers said he doesn’t always give him the throw he needs to be fastest.
“Oliver’s really good and consistent, but he doesn’t always give you the most flat go across there to throw very fast. And that was one of my goals today — to try to get a good start, and I didn’t do it every time, but I tried to make sure I got a good start so I don’t have to use my rope as much and stay aggressive.”
This year, Driggers has been able to rotate through a deep string of horses—a sharp contrast from 2024, when injuries and illness left him patching together borrowed rides.
“I’ve got some really good horses right now,” he said. “I have one kind of for every situation and scenario that we go to. I get a lot of confidence from them just because of the honesty they bring to the table. Every time, I know they’re going to do their job—I just have to do mine.”
“I think I’ve won every one of [the majors] on a different horse this year,” he added.
That depth is a major part of why Driggers is having the kind of season that hasn’t been done before—and might not happen again anytime soon.
“Last year, my short-score horse got really bad EPM, and then Oliver was hurt,” he said. “I was just borrowing horses and piecing them together, trying to do the best we could.”
Driggers’ Seasoned Perspective
This year, everything has clicked—even when it didn’t look like it would early on. Driggers and Junior Nogueira left the winter run with less than $20,000 in ProRodeo earnings, far from frontrunner status.
“We didn’t have that great of a year starting out,” Driggers said. “But there’s just so much to be won throughout the regular season now.”
Driggers credits a changing rodeo economy for giving team ropers more chances to earn big—from ProRodeos to stand-alone jackpots.
“People are stepping up and having great events, and sponsors are getting behind them,” he said. “The Yellowstone effect has helped our sport. COVID might have been the best thing for rodeo. It was hard to see that during the middle of it. I didn’t even rope well enough to make the NFR that year. But after, it’s taken off.”
Still, for all the money and titles, Driggers is focused on the gold buckle.
“I’ve put in a lot of hard work and just kept faith,” he said. “Every time I find myself in this situation, I just try to really focus.”
And the motivation is simple: Win—and bring the gold buckle back to Stephenville.
—TRJ—
