Trick-shot artists Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones,
Tyler Toney, and twins Coby and Cory Cotton
make up a little group known as Dude Perfect,
and they have one of the biggest channels
on YouTube.
Dude Perfect is now so big that their channel
now has even more subscribers than the NFL,
NBA, MLB, and NHL combined.
They have their own television show on CMT,
they’re sponsored by a wide range of major
companies, and they even have their own crazy
trick-shot factory in Frisco, Texas.
They've transformed themselves into one of
the most successful brands to come from YouTube...but
it all started as five college roommates hanging
out in their backyard.
Tyler Toney
The group specifically calls him "their leader."
Tyler Toney is the Dude on camera making the
majority of the group's trick shots, dating
back to their very first video.
Born in Plano, Texas on March 24, 1989, Toney
did most of his growing up in nearby Prosper,
Texas, and spent much of his time in church.
"Ever since I could remember I grew up in
a church.
My earliest memories are being in church every
sunday, youth every wednesday, Awanas every
Monday night."
Toney also spent a lot of time on youth athletics,
and his efforts paid off.
He stands 5-foot-9, but played quarterback,
developing a passing acumen that helps him
make many trick shots today.
After high school, Toney attended Texas A&M
and started looking for “some other Christian
guys to develop a friendship with.”
Toney credits that as the true start of Dude
Perfect.
He already knew Garrett Hilbert from their
high school basketball team, and they soon
met the twins and Cody Jones.
In 2009, they all moved into a house together
and put a basketball hoop in the backyard.
That's when they began betting sandwiches
on whether or not one of them could sink unusual
basketball shots in their backyard hoop.
After some success, they decided to shoot
a video over two afternoons.
This ended up becoming their first YouTube
video, "Backyard Edition."
Within a week it had over 100,000 views.
Soon after, Good Morning America called for
an interview.
Toney and Dude Perfect were on their way to
Internet superstardom and beyond.
Along the way, Toney graduated from college
with a degree in wildlife and fisheries, got
a "real job" for awhile, and married Bethany
Briscoe, an elementary school teacher, in
2011.
Garrett Hilbert
The Purple Hoser, as he's known to fans, was
born in Texas on May 13, 1987.
His dad's job moved him to California during
his early childhood.
At some point, he found his way back to Prosper,
Texas before high school, because that's where
he met Tyler Toney on the basketball team.
Just like Toney, Hilbert was brought up in
a devout Christian family, but didn’t really
understand what that meant until sixth grade.
"I never really understood what going to church
meant, you know.
I tried to pay attention, but pretty much
ended up scribbling on the sermon notes, just
drawing.
And throughout all that, Christ was just slowly
telling me—about him and what he did for
me."
Hilbert went to Texas A&M as an architecture
major, remained close with his high school
teammate Toney, and found his way into the
college house that brought them all together.
He claims to be the one to have initially
bet Toney that he couldn't make a particular
trick shot.
"I bet him that he wouldn't make it.
He obviously made it.
I bought him lunch, and the rest is history."
Hilbert married in 2011, and he and his wife
have a baby boy together named Owen.
Coby and Cory Cotton
Coby is known as Twin #1 because he's one
minute older than Cory, a.k.a. Twin #2.
Born on July 17, 1987, they grew up in Woodlands,
Texas, playing basketball, tennis, dodgeball,
and ran cross country.
"My dad is actually a pastor, and I know some
people have mixed feelings about pastors'
kids, but for me my parents were never pushy
when it comes to Christianity.
And they wanted me to make a decision on my
own whether I actually believed it."
They both went to Texas A&M as communications
majors and kept seeing Toney and Hilbert at
various Bible study groups on campus.
Once the four bonded over sports and faith,
it was inevitable they'd all move in together.
Not only are they the marketing geniuses in
the group, they also seem to be the technical
guys, being the point people for the group's
mobile game, website, and video editing.
After they graduated from college, they went
to work for their father's church in Austin
before Dude Perfect really took off.
During that period, Cory wrote a book about
the group called Go Big: Make Your Shot Count
in the Connected World.
Cody Jones
Born in Plano, Texas on October 9, 1987, Jones
grew up going to church every Sunday with
his family, like the other Dudes.
In high school, he played for the school's
basketball team before attending Texas A&M
to study finance and real estate.
But for a time, Cody Jones focused more on
basketball and girls than on religion.
"Like any other teenager as I went into high
school, man, the things of this world kinda
captivated me."
Once Jones got back on the straight and narrow,
he met the Cotton twins while playing basketball
at the university rec center, and they asked
if he wanted to be the fifth roommate in their
house.
After graduating from school, Jones married
his wife Allison and worked in commercial
real estate until their viral videos became
a full-time gig.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
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