Outlaws Gelling at Right Time Ahead of Game Against No. 1 Austin
By: Justin Felisko
PUEBLO, Colo. – The Kansas City Outlaws (5-8) sit in the middle of the PBR Team Series standings, but the J.W. Hart-coached squad may be ready to make a push up the standings in the back half of the regular season.
The Outlaws were already set to field the youngest team in the league at the start of the season. That youth became even younger once Cole Melancon and Dalton Kasel sustained injuries at PBR Challenger and Team Series Preseason events. Combine that with Kyler Oliver missing the first four weeks of the season because of a broken neck, plus a multitude of bumps and bruises for the rest of the squad, and it was a trial by fire for the Outlaws’ Under-20 squad of Bob Mitchell, Tate Pollmeier and Koltin Hevalow.
The future became the present for the Outlaws, and the early-season adversity should only make the Outlaws stronger now that Oliver returned to the lineup this past weekend at Gambler Days.
“Everybody’s going to go through a big setback, big adversity, through this deal, and I hope we got ours out of the way,” Hart said in Austin. “But we already know how we deal with ours. The guys, the teams, that’s dealing with nothing but success at this point, when they hit failure, hit the valley, we’ll see everybody’s true teams.
“We’ve seen our bottom team, but we’re starting to swim now.”
The Outlaws went 1-2 at Gambler Days, and the team was able to start its first four draft picks in the same lineup for the first time.
Kansas City’s 251-0 victory over the Missouri Thunder (7-6) was a glimpse into its potential. It was just the second time in 13 games that the Outlaws rode three bulls in a game, and those three rides came from Oliver (86 points on Bison), Marcus Mast (77.5 points on The Sauce) and Rafael Henrique dos Santos (87.5 points on Sammy).
Oliver was a World Champion contender this past Unleash The Beast season before he broke his neck during his 91.25-point ride on Chiseled on April 2 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The 23-year-old was a projected Top-5 pick for the Teams draft before his injury. He could end up being a second-round steal for Kansas City.
“Exponentially important,” Hart said about getting Oliver back. “I mean, (Friday) night, he was doing 100 mph, and his bull was doing about 48. But he slowed down (on Saturday). It’s just essential, keeping your hand shut. When everything else is going, if you keep your hand shut and keep trying, it may come back underneath you at some point. And that’s something everybody on our team can learn from. And we’re going to learn from each other. We learn from Kyler. We learn from Dalton. Everybody can learn from everybody.”
At the time of his injury, Oliver was ranked No. 4 in the world standings and riding 42% of his bulls.
Oliver went 1-for-3 in Austin and admits he still is knocking some of the rust off after only getting on a few practice bulls at teammate Kasel’s ranch before Gambler Days.
“I am excited to be back,” Oliver said. “It’s been a long four-and-a-half months. Man, it has been rough. We have all been trying so hard. It has not been because of a lack of effort. It is a tough sport.”
One thing has been clear all season for the Outlaws.
The team enjoys being around each other.
Hart has done a great job, as have Kasel and Oliver, making sure the injured leaders of the team were still involved. They attended multiple events and were pseudo assistant coaches.
“This team has gelled,” Hart said. “I’m not inside everybody else’s camp, but there’s no way that the chemistry amongst a team is better than ours. It is unbelievable. Better than I expected when we drafted. It’s special to see these guys really come together.”
This week is an off week for the PBR Team Series, but the Outlaws will be sending three riders – Clancy Hart, Sam Woodall and Hevalow – to Cowboys for a Cause this weekend in Kingsville, Texas.
Woodall could be another strong addition to the Outlaws in the future. The tough-as-nails Aussie fits Hart’s desire for gritty cowboys, and the 24-year-old has been working his way back to full strength after being injured on July 10.
Melancon also hopes to rejoin the Outlaws before season’s end.
Kansas City will get a chance to show its merit against the No. 1 team in the league – the Austin Gamblers (9-4) – on opening night of Cowboy Days on Sept. 9-11 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
It will be a rematch from Anaheim, California, when the Gamblers squeaked by Kansas City 171.5-171.25.
“I don’t want to talk about anybody else, but we feel like we ain’t even started to ride like we’re supposed to,” Hart concluded. “Our whole team has been riding under par. If we don’t step it up, we’ll get our ass kicked, but it’s coming together. It’s starting.”
Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko
Photo courtesy of Josh Homer/Bull Stock Media
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