FORT WORTH, Texas – If there’s a Mr. Congeniality in the Unleash The Beast locker room, it may very well be Boudreaux Campbell.

Always loud, always talking, and always with a smile on his face, Campbell is a big personality that you just can’t help but like.

“We need to follow him around with a camera,” Derek Kolbaba said. “Next TV show coming up.”

Campbell had plenty to smile about after Round 1 of the 2023 PBR World Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, as he rode Buster Brown for 84.75 points to tie for eighth place.

Perhaps not as high a placement as he would’ve liked, but it was a huge statement after missing the 2022 World Finals thanks to an injury keeping him out for two months of the season.

Before that, he finished 19^th at the 2021 World Finals and, of course, won the 2020 World Finals and was crowned Rookie of the Year thanks to that performance.

“I’ve thought about it a lot,” Campbell said of his 2020 World Finals event win. “If I would’ve went into the standings where I am now and won that World Finals, what would the results have been? Maybe it would’ve been a gold buckle. At the end of the day, I went there, I did that; that was what I wanted to do. Now we’re here at this Finals, and I have a goal this week, and so that’s the goal, to get the job done.”

In 2020, Campbell was No. 30 in the world standings before vaulting to No. 3 after his World Finals win.

It’s a very different situation in 2023. Campbell entered the World Finals ranked No. 7 and improved to No. 6 after Round 1. At 357.34 points behind No. 1 Kaique Pacheco, who is out of World Finals due to injury, he’s very much in the hunt for a world title.

Campbell has managed to sneak through the season nearly undetected, while heavy hitters like Pacheco, No. 2 Jose Vitor Leme, No. 3 Dalton Kasel, and No. 4 Cooper Davis took most of the headlines. It allowed him to operate without the pressure of the bright lights.

“It might have been a little bit of help,” Campbell said. “But at the end of the day, I don’t get worked up about much. I try to stay calm, cool, collected, because 8 seconds, do your job, everything else will take care of itself. All you have to do is ride the bull they put under you.”

Kolbaba laughed at the idea of Campbell being calm, cool and collected.

“You see it for about three minutes, right before he nods,” Kolbaba said. “That’s when you see him focus. But everything else, that’s what you get.”

Campbell’s ridiculous side came out in the story of how he got the prominent, angry-looking knot on his forehead. While hauling bulls for friend Roy Carter, he got back at 1:30 a.m. and had to unload them at Carter’s house.

“It was pitch black dark. I really couldn’t see nothing,” Campbell said. “I kind of see the bulls run by fast. I hear a bunch of gates banging around, and I’m like, ‘What the—’ WHAM! The gate hit me right between the eyes, and it took me back about three feet. I thought I was getting run over because I didn’t know what just happened. I didn’t see it coming.”

Cord McCoy, stock contractor for Buster Brown and head coach for the PBR Team Series’ Oklahoma Freedom, is a big fan of the Crockett, Texas, cowboy.

“He’s not on my team, and my bull isn’t in a race or anything,” McCoy said. “But man, I was really rooting for him to ride my bull. You want to see likable people win.”

Campbell is well on his way, and his next bovine matchup is as big as his personality. He’ll take on No. 1 Cool Whip (19-1, UTB), No. 1 in the YETI World Champion Bull race, in Round 2 (8:30 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network).

Cool Whip is a formidable foe, but Campbell isn’t in Fort Worth to play around.

“I didn’t show up here yesterday in Fort Worth thinking I’m not in this thing or not wanting to be here,” Campbell said. “I know I’m supposed to be here, I’m one of the best bull riders in the world, and I’m in this race. And I’m going to try every single time that chute gate opens, and I’m not going to quit until my head hits the ground.”

Photo courtesy of Andy Watson/Bull Stock Media