No. 8 | $97,422.61
- Age: 32
- Hometown: Broken Bow, Oklahoma
- Career earnings: $513,872
- Major Rodeo Wins: Utah Days of ’47 (Salt Lake City, Utah), Snake River Stampede (Nampa, Idaho)
- Major Ropings: US Finals, WSTR Finale, Wildfire Open
- NFR Qualifications: 1 (2024)
- Star Horsepower: Ted (Prancing Karo, heeling), Guns (More Guns Less Roses, heading)
- Rope choice: Powerline Lite
It took Jake Smith 12 years—most of which he spent on the heel side—to run his first steer at the NFR.
The 32-year-old from Broken Bow, Oklahoma, started his PRCA career heeling for his brother and two-time World Champion Clay in 2014. Between 2015 and 2022, Smith went back and forth between heading and heeling several times and with several different partners. But finally, in 2023, he picked up a head rope and never looked back, eventually qualifying for his first NFR with partner Douglas Rich in 2024. Roping is all he has ever known, and all the years of putting in the work are starting to pay off.
“Roping is all we’ve ever done,” Smith said. “Our dad, for Christmas or birthdays, got (us) a new dummy; a new rope; five goats; a fresh set of steers. I mean, everything we had as a toy was something to do with a horse or a rope.”
Smith’s big break came in Salado, Texas, when he won the 2015 Wildfire Open, heeling for Clay. The brothers knocked down six steers in 39.05 seconds to beat the field of 163 teams at the 17th annual showdown in Salado, winning a huge $100,000 for their efforts.
For years, he went back and forth on the ProRodeo road, filling in for Kaleb Driggers the year he broke his leg or spinning steers for little brother Britt for a few years—all while trying to figure out if he wanted to rodeo full time. After Britt said he was going to stay home in 2022, and some nudging from oldest sibling Clay, Smith made the call: It was time to go all out.
“Britt decided he wanted to stay home,” Smith explained. “So, I kind of weighed my options. I tried a lot heeling and hadn’t had the success I wanted; I thought I knew what I needed to do, then Clay told me I needed to do the same thing. So, I started heading.”
Flash forward to the 2023 season when he picked up Illinois heeler Douglas Rich. With help from his running-bred sorrel horse More Guns Less Roses—“Guns”—Smith ended up top 30 in the world that first year with Rich.
“I told Doug whenever I first started: ‘I don’t know if this is going to be very good or not,’” he admitted.
Well, in 2024, it went just fine. That season, the team cashed in big at RodeoHouston, pocketed more than $13,000 in Salt Lake City when they took the win there and finished the season strong with Smith’s first NFR qualification.
Once in Las Vegas, Smith and Rich placed in two rounds and ended up 10th in the average for their efforts.
“I remember how quiet it was in the first round in there whenever I was in the box,” Smith remembered of his first Finals. “I broke the barrier, but I remember the roping part feeling easier than I thought it would. Then the next night, I was able to enjoy it more; I could look around a little bit. It was a pretty awesome feeling for sure, to get to do that. For me, it was a big learning experience.”
So far in 2025, Smith is riding the momentum he and Rich have built. As of August 12, 2025, Smith was currently eighth in the PRCA world standings with $97,422.61 won so far. The team also leads the Wilderness Circuit standings with $32,276.
However, all the wins and losses in the world won’t change what Smith considers to be at the forefront of his career: his faith.
“I know that the only way it works is that the good Lord takes care of me. Whenever you get to thinking about all the stuff, the money you spend and this and that, it’ll drive you insane. I still don’t understand how it all works. But God must love us, and love me, because he lets me do what I love to do.”
Jake Smith, 2025
