In 2009, five friends uploaded a video to YouTube of basketball trick shots, and before they knew it, Dude Perfect was a hit. The group—made up of Tyler Toney, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and twins Coby and Cory Cotton—has been able to make a career out of their YouTube videos, and they even star in a TV series, but there might be a lot you don't know about them.
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Trickshot artists Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, Tyler Toney, and twins Kobe and Cory Cotton
00:09make up a little group known as Dude Perfect, and they have one of the biggest channels
00:14on YouTube.
00:15Dude Perfect is now so big that their channel now has even more subscribers than the NFL,
00:21NBA, MLB, and NHL combined.
00:24They have their own television show on CMT, and they're sponsored by a wide range of major
00:29companies, and they even have their own crazy trickshot factory in Frisco, Texas.
00:35They've transformed themselves into one of the most successful brands to come from YouTube.
00:40But it all started as five college roommates hanging out in their backyard.
00:45Tyler Toney
00:47The group specifically calls him their leader.
00:49Tyler Toney is the dude on camera making the majority of the group's trickshots, dating
00:54back to their very first video.
00:56Born in Plano, Texas, on March 24, 1989, Toney did most of his growing up in nearby Prosper,
01:03Texas, and spent much of his time in church.
01:06"...Ever since I can remember, I grew up in the church.
01:09My earliest memories are being in church every Sunday, at youth every Wednesday, Awanas every
01:14Monday night."
01:15Toney also spent a lot of time on youth athletics, and his efforts paid off.
01:20He stands 5'9", but played quarterback, developing a passing acumen that helps him
01:26make many trickshots today.
01:29After high school, Toney attended Texas A&M and started looking for some other Christian
01:34guys to develop a friendship with.
01:36Toney credits that as the true start of Dude Perfect.
01:40He already knew Garrett Hilbert from the high school basketball team, and they soon met
01:44the twins and Cody Jones.
01:46In 2009, they all moved into a house together and put a basketball hoop in the backyard.
01:51That's when they began betting sandwiches on whether or not one of them could sink unusual
01:57basketball shots in their backyard hoop.
02:00After some success, they decided to shoot a video over two afternoons.
02:04This ended up becoming their first YouTube video, Backyard Edition.
02:08Within a week, it had over 100,000 views.
02:12Soon after, Good Morning America called for an interview.
02:15Toney and Dude Perfect were on their way to internet superstardom and beyond.
02:20Along the way, Toney graduated from college with a degree in wildlife and fisheries, got
02:26a real job for a while, and married Bethany Briscoe, an elementary schoolteacher, in 2011.
02:32Garrett Hilbert
02:34The Purple Hoser, as he's known to fans, was born in Texas on May 13, 1987.
02:40His dad's job moved him to California during his early childhood, and at some point, he
02:44found his way back to Prosper, Texas before high school, because that's where he met Tyler
02:50Toney on the basketball team.
02:52Just like Toney, Hilbert was brought up in a devout Christian family, but didn't really
02:56understand what it meant until sixth grade.
02:59"...and I never really understood what going to church meant, you know, I, you know, tried
03:03to pay attention, but pretty much ended up scribbling on the sermon notes, just drawing.
03:08Throughout all that, Christ was just, uh, slowly telling me that, uh, about Him and
03:13what He did for me."
03:15Hilbert went to Texas A&M as an architecture major, remained close with his high school
03:20teammate Toney, and found his way into the college house that brought them all together.
03:25He claims to be the one that initially bet Toney that he couldn't make a particular trick
03:29shot.
03:30"...I bet him that he wouldn't make it, he obviously made it, I bought him lunch, and
03:33the rest is history."
03:34Hilbert married in 2011, and he and his wife have a baby boy together named Owen.
03:40Kobe and Cory Cotton
03:42Kobe is known as Twin One, because he's one minute older than Cory, aka Twin Two.
03:48Born on July 17, 1987, they grew up in Woodlands, Texas, playing basketball, tennis, dodgeball,
03:55and ran cross-country.
03:56"...my dad is actually a pastor, and, uh, I know some people have mixed feelings about
04:00pastor's kids, but for me, my parents were never pushy when it comes to Christianity,
04:06and they wanted me to make a decision on my own whether I actually believed it."
04:10They both went to Texas A&M as communications majors, and kept seeing Toney and Hilbert
04:16at various Bible study groups on campus.
04:19Once the four bonded over sports and faith, it was inevitable they'd all move in together.
04:24Not only are they the marketing geniuses in the group, they also seem to be the technical
04:29guys, being the point people for the group's mobile game, website, and video editing.
04:35After they graduated from college, they went to work for their father's church in Austin
04:39before Dude Perfect really took off.
04:42During that period, Cory wrote a book about the group called Go Big!
04:46Make Your Shot Count in the Connected World.
04:49Cody Jones
04:50Born in Plano, Texas, on October 9, 1987, Jones grew up going to church every Sunday
04:56with his family, like the other dudes.
04:58In high school, he played for the school's basketball team before attending Texas A&M
05:03to study finance and real estate.
05:06For a time, Cody Jones focused more on basketball and girls than on religion.
05:10"...Like any other teenager, as I went into high school, man, the things of this world
05:16kind of captivated me."
05:17Once Jones got back on the straight and narrow, he met the Cotton twins whilst playing basketball
05:22at the University Rec Center, and they asked if he wanted to be their fifth roommate in
05:27their house.
05:28After graduating from school, Jones married his wife, Allison, and worked in commercial
05:32real estate until their viral videos became a full-time gig.
05:36And the rest, as they say, is history.