Two years ago, Jacobs Crawley thought he was done competing in PRORODEO.

Crawley suffered a burst fracture of his T12 and sustained damage to his T11 and L1 vertebrae when he was pinned against the chute on June 25, 2023, at the Greeley (Colo.) Stampede. He later underwent surgery to fuse his T10, T11, T12, L1 and L2 vertebrae and clean up the surrounding area.

The road to a possible return to rodeo looked bleak, and the 2015 PRCA Saddle Bronc Riding World Champion and 10-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier shifted his focus outside the arena.

But less than two years later, the 36-year-old is back and enjoying early success in the 2025 season with impressive showings at the Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo in Odessa, Texas, and the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver.

“I need to practice up and get ready, but I’m so grateful,” Crawley said of his return to PRORODEO. “It’s such an emotional deal because I was completely convinced that I was never getting on again. Then, my wife (Lauren) and I prayed about it, and she knew how much I enjoyed bronc riding.

“I’d be happy to just get on in a practice pen…I’m a little bit older for a bronc rider, but as far as my physical condition, I felt great.”

Crawley’s journey back into the arena started with an itch he couldn’t scratch.

“Not being able to do it and feeling like you can do it, it was always just fluttering in the back of my mind,” Crawley said. “Then once I found out, ‘hey, your back is okay to do this,’ it got really hard not to do something you love to do, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of other priorities.”

After Crawley heard that getting on another bucking horse probably wasn’t in the cards, he started giving away his gear and focusing on his business ventures and role as the chairman of the PRCA Board of Directors.

But when doctors told Crawley his back was in good shape and his recovery was way ahead of schedule, he started to test the waters.

He called the head coach of the Tarleton State University rodeo team, Mark Eakin, to get on one of their practice horses and recalled some of the gear he’d given away.

“I hadn’t set my saddle. I wasn’t ready, and I hadn’t done anything. It was just something I was going to do,” Crawley said. “I was completely prepared for that (ride) to be the last one. My legs were incredibly sore because I hadn’t ridden a bucking horse in forever, but my back was fine.”

Crawley got on one more horse each week for the next five or six weeks, and his back held up.

Then, he competed at the Woodlawn Pro Rodeo in Marshall, Texas, the River Ranch Stampede in Dayton, Texas, and the Stockyards Pro Rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas.

After gaining traction at the end of 2024, his brother Sterling Crawley said he should enter the Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo in Odessa, Texas. Jacobs obliged but didn’t get his hopes up.

When the dust settled on Jan. 11, Crawley finished second in Odessa with an 85.5-point ride on No Show Jones to pick up $3,268.

Crawley competes in the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo semifinals on Saturday as his comeback continues.

“When you go 18 years of not going more than two weeks without getting on a bucking horse – and then you go a year and a half without getting on a bucking horse, it’s taking some figuring back out,” he said. “But it’s there. You just have to sharpen it up.”