CAROLINA COWBOYS SIGN KEYSHAWN WHITEHORSE AHEAD OF 2026 PBR TEAMS LEAGUE CAMPAIGN
Cowboys Recharge Roster After Winning 2025 PBR Teams Championship, also adding Brazilian powerhouses Elizmar Jeremias and Thiago Salgado
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Carolina Cowboys, 2025 champions in the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Teams league, have signed free agent Keyshawn Whitehorse ahead of the 2026 season.
Whitehorse became a free agent for the first time in his career after being drafted by the Arizona Ridge Riders in the league’s inaugural 2022 season. He was a staple for the Ridge Riders, going 12-for-27 during the 2025 season, helping the team to a fourth-place finish at the Teams Championship.
“Looking forward to the season with this great group of guys,” said Whitehorse. “I think we’re going to be great and accomplish many things this season.”
Whitehorse joins the Cowboys fresh off his ninth qualification to the PBR World Finals. The 2018 PBR Rookie of the Year and 2025 Challenger Series Champion is currently ranked No. 14 in the Unleash The Beast standings headed into the PBR World Finals May 7-17 in Fort Worth, Texas where he aims to clinch his first individual World Championship.
During the individual season, Whitehorse won one event, victorious in Albuquerque, N.M. in late March, posting three rides of 90 points or more en route to the victory.
Since making his Unleash The Beast debut in 2016, Whitehorse has won four events, and logged 17 90-point rides, including his career-best 93.75-point ride on Chiseled at the 2020 PBR World Finals.
Whitehorse is one of three new additions to the Cowboys during the offseason, joined by Elizmar Jeremias and Thiago Salgado, both formerly of the Florida Freedom. Thiago joins his older brother Adriano on the Cowboys as the siblings will compete side-by-side in a dynamic infrequently seen in professional sports.
Whitehorse, Jeremias and Thiago Salgado join a deep roster of returning riders from the 2025 championship team including: 2025 PBR Teams Championship MVP and North Carolina’s own Clay Guiton; two-time PBR World Champion Jess Lockwood (2017, 2019); 10-time World Finals qualifier Derek Kolbaba; and three-time PBR World Finals qualifier Adriano Salgado.
The Carolina Cowboys will return home to Greensboro, North Carolina, and First Horizon Coliseum for their fifth annual homestand event on Sept. 18-20, 2026.
The competition begins at 7:45 p.m. ET on Friday, September 18, 6:45 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 19, and 1:45 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 20. Tickets for the event are on sale now and can be purchased online at TicketMaster.com and PBR.com, at the First Horizon Coliseum Box Office, or by calling PBR customer service at (800) 732-1727.
For more information on Carolina Cowboys, and for updates on the upcoming PBR Cowboy Days, visit https://pbr.com/teams/carolina-cowboys, Carolina Cowboys on Facebook, @carolinacowboyspbr on Instagram, or @CARCowboysPBR on Twitter. Go behind the scenes for the Carolina Cowboys’ championship season with exclusive long form video content on the Carolina Cowboys’ YouTube channel @CarolinaCowboysPBR.
About the Carolina Cowboys:
The Carolina Cowboys, 2025 PBR Teams Champions, are based at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., where the team will hold its fifth Cowboy Days homestand September 18-20, 2026. The Cowboys are coached by PBR co-founder Jerome Davis and assistant coach Robson Palermo, a three-time PBR World Finals event winner. Under the leadership of General Manager Austin Dillon, the 2018 Daytona 500 Champion, and Assistant General Manager Cooper Davis, the team is owned by 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Richard Childress and prominent entrepreneurs and agriculturalists Jeff and Tammie Broin. From a one-man team in 1969, Richard Childress grew Richard Childress Racing (RCR) into one of the most-respected organizations in NASCAR, with nearly 400 team members supporting full-time operations in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. As a car owner, Childress has earned more than 200 victories in NASCAR’s top three national series, 17 championships, three Daytona 500 championships and three Brickyard 400 championships. Away from the track, Childress is a businessman, philanthropist and conservationist – he loves wine, the outdoors, supporting the military, and investing in America’s youth. Childress’ properties include the award-winning Childress Vineyards. He sits on the board of directors of Growth Energy and holds an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Northwestern Ohio. Entrepreneur and agriculturalist Broin is the founder and CEO of bioprocessing giant POET, the world’s largest biofuel producer. Broin and RCR have a longstanding partnership through NASCAR and worked together to upgrade the league to 15% bioethanol.
About PBR Teams:
PBR Teams is an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five games leading to a Team Championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. During the 2026 season, the league’s fifth, each of the 10 teams – Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Florida Freedom of Sunrise, FL; Kansas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; New York Mavericks of Belmont Park, NY; OK; Oklahoma Wildcatters of Oklahoma City, OK; Missouri Thunder of Springfield, MO; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX – will host a homestand. Neutral-site games are scheduled for Fort Collins, CO, and Anaheim, CA.
PBR Teams, launched in July 2022, builds on the existing structure of professional bull riding with the same basic rules for judging and scoring qualified 8-second bull rides. In events staged in a tournament-style format, all teams compete in head-to-head matchups against a different opponent each day. Each game features five riders per team squaring off against another team. Full team rosters are comprised of seven riders on the Protected Roster and five Reserve riders. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game.
PBR is part of TKO, a global sports and entertainment company. For more information, visit PBR.com, or follow on Facebook at Facebook.com/PBR, Twitter at Twitter.com/PBR, and YouTube at YouTube.com/PBR.
Courtesy of Taylor Riemersma
Manager, Public Relations, PBR