Freedom fill practice squad by inking Elizmar Souza Jeremias, Jacob O’Mara, Roscoe Jarboe, Alex Cerqueira and Coy Pollmeier in the accompanying Practice Squad Draft
FORT WORTH, Texas – During the 2023 PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Team Series Draft, the Oklahoma Freedom completed their protected roster, inking young gun Brady Turgeon (New River, Arizona) with the sixth overall selection.
“Wow, did we have one heck of a Draft day,” said Head Coach Cord McCoy. “We only had one spot open on our protected roster and to add Brady Turgeon was quite an honor. What a great up and coming guy. I saw him for the first time ride in person in Nampa, Idaho, and am watching him go through the World Finals, he’s a pretty salty guy. I think he’s on an upswing.”
Turgeon is guaranteed a place on the Freedom’s protected roster for the first two events in the 2023 PBR Team Series season in Cheyenne, Wyoming, July 24-25 and Kansas City, Missouri, Aug. 3-5.
In all, 147 new riders declared for the Draft this year. The 115 who did not get selected automatically become unrestricted free agents.
The team also filled its practice squad as the only contingent to make a selection in all five rounds of the accompanying Practice Squad Draft. There picks included: Elzimar Souza Jeremias (Anapu, BrazIl) in the first round, Jacob O’Mara (Denham Springs, Louisiana) in the second round, Roscoe Jarboe (New Plymouth, Idaho) in the third round, Alex Cerqueira (Iguatemi, Brazil) in the fourth round, and Coy Pollmeier (Fort Scott, Kansas) in the fifth round.
“We added some pretty stout guys on the rest of our roster,” added McCoy. “We’re excited about the 2023 season. We’re excited to have a lot of depth this year.”
Pollmeier is the younger brother to Tate Pollmeier (Fort Scott, Kansas) who is a member of the Freedom’s protected roster.
The Oklahoma Freedom’s complete roster now includes:
Eli Vastbinder (Statesville, North Carolina) – Protected Roster
Chase Outlaw (Hamburg, Arkansas) – Protected Roster
Derek Kolbaba (Walla Walla, Washington) – Protected Roster
Briggs Madsen (Tremonton, Utah) – Protected Roster
Jess Lockwood (Volborg, Montana) – Protected Roster
Casey Roberts (Munford, Alabama) – Pre-Season Injured Reserve
T. Pollmeier – Protected Roster
Turgeon – Protected Roster
Cerqueira – Practice Squad
Jeremias – Practice Squad
Jarboe – Practice Squad
O’Mara – Practice Squad
C. Pollmeier – Practice Squad
The Oklahoma Freedom will host their second annual homestand, Freedom Fest, on Sept. 8-10 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at Paycom Center. The action begins at 7:45 p.m. CT on Friday, September 8, 6:45 p.m. CT on Saturday, September 9, and 1:45 p.m. CT on Sunday, September 10.
Tickets for the event are on sale now, and start at $20, taxes and fees not included. They can be purchased online at Ticketmaster.com and PBR.com, at the Paycom Center Box Office, or by calling PBR customer service at 1-800-732-1727.
Three-day ticket packages are available, offering fans a 15% discount on select price levels.
For more information about Oklahoma Freedom, visit https://pbr.com/teams/freedom/, Oklahoma Freedom on Facebook, @OK_Freedom_ on Instagram, or @OKfreedom_ on Twitter.
About the Oklahoma Freedom:
The Oklahoma Freedom are based at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, joining team tenants including the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, and their G League affiliate Oklahoma City Blue, where the team will hold its second Freedom Fest homestand on September 8-10, 2023, the sixth event of the 10-event 2023 PBR Team Series regular season. The Freedom are coached by Oklahoma native Cord McCoy, a former bull rider and four-time qualifier for PBR World Finals.
About the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Team Series:
The PBR Team Series is an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing on teams in five-on-five bull riding games during an 11-event season beginning in July and culminating in a Team Championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas October 20-22. During the 2023 season, the league’s second, each of the eight teams – Austin Gamblers of Austin, TX; Arizona Ridge Riders of Glendale, AZ; Carolina Cowboys of Greensboro, NC; Kanas City Outlaws of Kansas City, MO; Nashville Stampede of Nashville, TN; Oklahoma Freedom of Oklahoma City, OK; Missouri Thunder of Ridgedale, MO; and Texas Rattlers of Fort Worth, TX – will host a three-day homestand. There are also neutral-site games in Cheyenne, WY and Anaheim, CA.
The PBR Team Series, which 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. Events are staged in a tournament-style format with all teams competing 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 riders on the Practice Roster. The team with the highest aggregate score of qualified rides among its riders is declared the winner of each game. The event winner is the team with the most game wins across an event, with a special bonus round designed as a tie-breaker to determine final event standings. All PBR Team Series events are carried on either the CBS Television Network, streaming live on Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, or RidePass on Pluto TV.
PBR is a subsidiary of IMG, a global leader in sports, fashion, events and media. 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.
