And considering how successful he’s already been on the Built Ford Tough Series in such a short amount of time – he’s in only his third year – it’s hard to imagine what the 21-year-old cowboy might be able to accomplish before he’s through with his career.

“You have to remember he’s still relatively young,” Ty Murray said. “Barring injury, he’s just a guy who’s going to get better with time.”

“He’s pretty mature,” agreed J.W. Hart, “but I don’t know how disciplined he is. It’s just going to take a couple of years.”

Added Jerome Davis, a fellow North Carolina native, who has worked with Mauney since before he was a teenager: “Even with the success he’s had so far, I don’t think we’ve warmed up to what we’re going to see out of J.B. before it’s over.”

Following a serious injury in 2005 – he broke all the bones on the right side of his ribcage and lacerated his liver – that forced him to miss the 2005 PBR World Finals, Mauney has been nothing short of spectacular.

He won the 2006 Daisy Rookie of the Year and started off the 2007 season with the first event win of his career in New York City at Madison Square Garden.

He went on to win three events last year and finished 3rd in world standings behind only Justin McBride, who won his second title in three years, and Guilherme Marchi, who has arguably been the single most consistent rider in the past four years.

“We’ve seen the amount of talent that he has,” Murray said, “and the thing I like about J.B. is the effort that he puts out. That’s paramount. I think that’s his big key.

“When you’re at this level and you’re riding this caliber of bulls, they are going to cause you to make mistakes, and a guy like J.B., who has that never-say-die way of going at it, he just attacks the bulls and he’s not a hesitant rider who waits to see how it goes.

“He’s a guy who it’s an all-out war every time the gate opens,” Murray continued. “To me that’s the thing that will carry him through.”

“He could be one of the greats if he could just get past the pressure point,” added Hart. “He’s a kid that has a little to learn in the pressure area.

“I know last year he did real good throughout the year, but when he got to the Finals and the pressure really hit him, he kind of crumbled a little bit. I think if we get him past the pressure cooker he could be one of the greats.”

It was likely youth and inexperience that caught up with Mauney during the Finals.

For his career, however, he’s ridden in 76 events – 32 of which were this year – and covered 56.25 percent of his bulls. His average score is an impressive 86.14 points.

“He rides off of confidence, and when he gets that kind of confidence, he’ll be one of the guys we talk about for a long time,” said Davis.

This year on the BFTS, he’s been competitive and consistently in the Top 10, but until recently (when he claimed back-to-back event wins in Grand Rapids and Jacksonville), he’s been frustrated by his lack of covering in the short go. On the season, he’s just 8 of 18 in the championship round.

“He’s been hit-and-miss,” Murray observed, “and, to me, he’s either been all on or all off.”

“He thinks that the answer is just getting on more practice bulls,” Cody Lambert explained. “That isn’t the answer. You fix the problem.

“There’s nothing wrong with getting on a practice bull, even though they’re dangerous and they can kill you and they can injure you to the point that you can’t compete when it’s for the money.

“But to fix the technical problems and to understand what went wrong,” Lambert continued, “he needs to acknowledge the problem, fix it and move on.”

Mauney controls his own destiny.

With the fast-approaching retirement of both Adriano Moraes and Justin McBride, Mauney, already a popular figure among the PBR fan base, is clearly the face of the PBR, along with Marchi.

“He’s as talented as anybody we’ve got,” proclaimed Lambert.

“He rides as good as anybody in the world,” said Davis, who noted that aside from a few minor injuries, Mauney manages to stay healthy. “There’s no doubt about it.

“This guy rides so good that one day he’s going to find out what it’s like to win a world title, and then it’s going to be hard to take it from him, and he could win two, three or four of them.”

—by Keith Ryan Cartwright