There are many changes to Elite this year, some of which may not be too obvious when first looking at this new product. These changes help shake up a product that has been a favorite early season release for some time now.

[b]Status and Aspirations. [/b]
The parallel set has reverted back to an older release. First of all, the rookies are numbered still to their college number, even though they are all featured in their pro unis. This may be confusing for some players that have a big number change. However, this year’s Aspirations is numbered to that jersey number. It has been like this in only 2002 and now 2010. This year’s Status is now numbered to 100 minus jersey number.

There is also no Status Gold anymore. That has been replaced with Aspirations autographs numbered to 40 and Status Autographs numbered to 24, which has been around but it is no longer gold. The non-autographed parallel is Status Black /24. This allows for the parallel of Status Black autograph /1. To recap you now have:

Base, Aspirations /jersey number, Status /(100 - jersey number), Status Black /24, TOTC autograph, Aspirations autograph /49, Status autograph /24, Status Black autograph 1/1
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[b]No college uniforms  [/b]
We sort of knew this was coming, but Elite no longer does collegiate uniforms anymore. I was thinking it might go the way of earlier products with airbrushed photos that removed the logos. Rookies are now featured with photos from the Rookie Premiere or training camp.

[b]On Card Autographs[/b]
This is not necessarily a change because 2001 Elite had on card TOTC autographs and all of the earlier products did not have stickers. Elite has on card autographs again. They also feature NFL uniforms and are the first to do so of the hobby year. These cards feature mini camp photos of rookies that were at the Rookie Premiere.
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[b]The inclusion of Printing Plates[/b]
For the longest time, Donruss was the only company that did not insert printing plates. They were distributed only at trade conferences. However, now are inserted into product for the first time. Even though plates seem to have run their course in the hobby, it is nice to see some added value for collectors and hopefully make them more available to collectors.
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We will see how these changes appeal to collectors. It seems every year that more and more autographs are available in every product. However, the on card autographs are always a plus and change is needed to keep a product brand fresh. Elite has been around for over 10 years and still going strong.

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