[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.

onyxdragon5977 kings things off with this sweet Donald Brown numbered to 5 that he brought in.

tigerkal brought in a Lightning Spiller

jwilliammoore got a Jim Kelly auto SPd to 16

Brad brought in this CJ Spiller auto numbered 28/50 - his Clemson jersey number

jasonluckydog17 had some nice cards, but then he started talking South Carolina football and his dog did this

lumm0x is having a great month with this Devery and also his boy, Jeff Carter, is playing for the Stanley Cup

deimos picked up a rare for his set. It is coming along nicely

Tazz got a new 1/1 for the OD PC

northcutt_fan picked up a new Josh Johnson /10. This one happens to be signed by the artist, Paul Lempa, a fellow TCGer!

sffanmike25 picked up a master set of Cason highlighted with this Red Refractor.

ernieren picked up a new Freeman with some sick patches numbered to 10.

Bounty13 picked up an amazing Joe Pa auto. Great addition from a rare signer

johnbull86 got a sweet Cup auto in

Krusin finished up his 2003 Finite jersey set

pgwtamu picked up some nice MB3s including this one

TheBucsGuy got 3 of the 4 Talib plates in one mailday

Gadsden86 got some nice rare inserts of Orande including this one

sliqwill got this MB3 SPA … happy flipping

AUTaxMan got a Frank Sanders Interstate Refractor and is over 50% of his collection of him. Congrats!

Zeeck makes his routine appearance in a Review thread with this Juice Inscription

The normal photos we see are ones of players all in uniform that they are taking photos in. They are what they wear for the photos and seen when signing autographs much like this one of Toby Gerhart.

Here he is signing for what appears to be Panini in full uniform, with pads. This is what collectors are used to seeing from over the years in Beckett Magazine.

However, these have been released from Upper Deck’s own Facebook and could pose a potential issue to some collectors. Personally, I have really tried to stay away from jersey cards over the years in general and especially Rookie Premiere Event Worn ones since they may have been worn for a minute. There was even an “Outside the Lines” piece on this part of the industry years ago.

Players are wearing jerseys that are not even theirs. This may not be too uncommon actually since we have known for years that throwback jerseys are worn. However, in their defense, some college jersey of players may be hard to obtain and game cut ones, even harder. Theses jerseys seem to just be normal retail jerseys available at a local sporting goods store or the campus bookstore.

Here Armanti Edwards is wearing a game issued and potentially worn jersey from some teammate.

photo courtesy of Upper Deck

However, the more concerning issue to me are the logos. That is what collectors want and it appears Upper Deck found a way to give collectors more of them.

photo courtesy of Upper Deck

That is CJ Spiller wearing a number 3 (Willy Korn) retail jersey. No big deal? Notice the two Tiger Paws on his sleeve. They purposely added another to get some more patches. One thing is that the smaller one appears to be a sewn on one, which Clemson does not use.

photo courtesy of Upper Deck

Tim Tebow is actually wearing his jersey, but Upper Deck has added three more logos to it, one of which is not even used by Florida.

Lastly, Joe McKnight is featured in a jersey of teammate and fellow Rookie Premiere attendee, Damian Williams.

photo courtesy of Beckett

This is much like the Gerhart photo that we are accustomed to. However, Upper Deck needed to do something to get letters for Letterman cards that have become big in the industry. Whereas USC does not use nameplates, they safety pinned one onto his jersey. These photos share with collectors where those swatches we like really come from.

One good thing though about Rookie Premiere weekend is that we get to see some finished products that we can look for in the near future. Upper Deck appears to have their Sweet Spot cards signed and now ready for their first collegiate release in the coming months. Here is a Jonathan Dwyer Sweet Spot auto with an inscription. It appears, at least early on, that this product will be a good looking product in hand for collectors.

photo courtesy of Upper Deck

Sage Autographed, Press Pass Portrait Edition, and Panini Prestige are almost exclusively non-action headshots of the 2010 rookie class. While unique in concept, it has been a change for the hobby. It does make sense as to why companies have done this. With no helmet on, there is less, if anything, that would need to be edited out depending on how the photo is cropped. That saves time, money, and effort for them. I feel though, that if they are going to do a “portrait” photo, it should be vertical, like Press Pass PE. The Prestige and Sage cards just do not seem as appealing.

Currently, the next product that should include rookies in college uniform will be Donruss Elite. There are no current mock ups of what we can expect the rookies to look like. With Elite’s history, I hope they look back at 2001 and 2002 Elite to see how to do action shots. I feel a fourth product of headshots would hurt sales more than a card with airbrushed logos.

While collegiate cards in general sell for less than the ones than their NFL counterparts, I am also curious to see how much of a premium UD products will carry compared to these products that contain no logos. It may end up that there is not much of a difference since there are less college collectors in general.  Upper Deck is banking on their exclusive contract to give them a premium and still be competitive with Topps and Panini NFL cards.

This product features the usual second release perks of Press Pass like inscriptions, red inks, and patches. Press Pass has a hit with some of these in my opinion. They feature something very unique and something collectors are looking for. First the unique:  A Practice Worn jersey.

Ndamukong Suh’s card features the fabled Nebraska Blackshirt defense jersey. This is the first time Press Pass has used a practice jersey before. In 2006 they did use the shirt from Matt Leinart’s pro day, but I think this is more special. The Blackshirts of Nebraska have a rich history and allow college fans to own a piece of it.

Secondly, they offer jerseys that collectors can identify from a specific game. This has gone away in the hobby, but Press Pass has two specific cases this year that I feel add a little bit extra.

Montario Hardesty of Tennessee is pictured with his black jersey that was won Halloween night against University of South Carolina. This is the only time UT has worn this jersey so it allows fans to know it is from one specific game and a win if they are a UT fan. Hardesty had 23 carries for 121 yards and 2 TDs.

Jacoby Ford falls into the same boat as Hardesty. Even though his appears to be another plain white jersey, however take a second look at it:

Notice that stitching. That is not typical of a jersey. It is actually the shoulder stitching from the shoulders of the Nike Pro Combat uniforms that Clemson wore also against the University of South Carolina. There are also other cards that have surfaced with the garnet paint in them making it an unwashed game worn jersey from one specific game, a collector’s dream.

Press Pass has done a great job so far under the new Collegiate Licensing rules. Hopefully they can continue this in the future.

Since Clemson is the best we will start with them…

Brad added this months featured card - a card he has coveted for some time now - CJ Spiller “Lightning” Inscription.

Our other fellow Clemson collector, tigerkal, brought in some nice cards too including
Gaines Adams Bowman Chrome Red Refractor auto /5:

and a Press Pass inscription of his own:
James Davis “Go Tigers!” Inscription

lumm0x added many nice cards to Devery Henderson collection including this Emerald … his third:

thepistonsfan completed his Washington Capitals team set by getting his Ovechkin auto in. Too bad for him they stumbled in the playoffs:

Zeeck makes his normal appearance on the list with a Red Ink version of Juice Williams … SPd to only 13. He also completed the Juice set witha  Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Blue parallels of Juice:

deimos picked up another addition for his set. Dick Butkus gold autograph. He has really done a good job on the set:

ar1888 claims to have finished up his 2009 collecting year with this Donald Brown Exquisite rookie:

Gadsden86 picked up a sweet triple patch of 3 great Dolphins… Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, and Dan Marino:

jwilliammore added another BJ Mullens on card auto in OSU uni to his PC:

northcutt_fan started his new Tony Pike PC the right way with his Press Pass Solo 1/1:

Apparently Upper Deck has multiple Twitter accounts (who knew?), and on one of them, Upper Deck made the announcement, “UD was unable to come to terms with NFL Properties. No NFL Properties-licensed football cards from UD in 2010. Bummer.”

With such riveting tweets, I would urge you all to immediately begin following Upper Deck on Twitter, though now I hardly see the point.

As bittersweet as Upper Deck’s abrupt exit from football cards is, it remains to be seen just what the 2010 season will have in store.  After all, Upper Deck will still produce their regularly scheduled NCAA products.  There’s no question, however, that that is only a small portion of the market.

The bulk of the market will now be in the hands of Panini which, in its infancy in the football card market, has pretty much strictly relied on the tried and true products of DLP past, leaving much to be desired as far as innovation goes.  Bummer.

To start things off, I couldn’t help but highlight one of the coolest Lance Briggs cards I’ve ever seen, brought in by sffanmike25.  This was one of a handful of incredible pickups that Mike had in the past month, including the beauties below and the completion of the Mike Thomas LCM Jumbo Jersey/Patch set:

Brad picked up the coolest piece of memorabilia for the month with this Chris Perry game-used jersey.  This is incredible not only for the timeliness of the pickup, but also considering Brad’s affinity for both his college and his pro team:

deputyjaay graced us with his presence once again announcing his return to the hobby with a bang:

This is just one of the handful of great looking SP Authentic Donald Browns that ar1888 picked up this past month:

jwilliammoore completed this Threads nameplate set, proving once again that these cards are pretty cool when you spell stuff with them:

lisu departed from her usual box-breaking activities long enough to pick up one of the best modern football cards ever created (mostly because it stuck with the vintage design and gave it the modern touch of a certified auto):

lumm0x has been picking up more Saints stuff lately, including this incredible Antonio Pittman Exquisite patch.  Even more notable might be the fact that he found a Jeff Carter that he didn’t already have:

thepistonsfan picked up some of his usual Redskins goodness, most notably this incredible Baugh patch out of Limited:

And, as always, I saved the best for last.  Jasonluckydog17 picked up this cute guy (though I still don’t quite comprehend how a dog was part of a mailday.  I’m pretty sure the USPS would have a problem with shipping live animals).  Chick-magnet and then some:

Let’s take a look at some of the players in the upcoming NFL Draft. Unlike some other drafts, the 2010 NFL Draft will likely have pricier household names outside of the 1st round. With names like Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy, this draft includes some highly touted college stars that might not project out with the big impact they had at the college level. However, with their immense college popularity, they will have value to collectors. Combining this early college star power with the very talented core of offensive players expected to go early in April’s draft, the 2010 draft looks like a pretty good value for collectors.

Projected Offensive Top Tier Draft Picks:
Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma
Jimmy Clausen, QB, Notre Dame
C.J. Spiller, RB, Clemson

College Heroes with Strong Fan Followings and Potential Pro Upside:
Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
Colt McCoy, QB, Texas

Other Offensive Skill Players to Keep an Eye on:
Dez Bryant, WR, Oklahoma State
Ryan Mathews, RB, Fresno State
Jahvid Best, RB, Cal
Jonathan Dwyer, RB, Georgia Tech
Arrelious Benn, WR, Illinois
Golden Tate, WR, Notre Dame
Tony Pike, QB, Cincinnati

Projected Top Defensive Hobby Followings:
Ndamakong Suh, DT, Nebraska
Eric Berry, S, Tennessee
Taylor Mays, S, USC

Should be a fun year. To collectors and box breakers, good luck!

Today would have been his birthday.  He loved a variety of things, obviously his family, the Dead, the Kansas City Chiefs, and playing guitar.  Though I dont believe anyone from the site met him in person, his legacy continues on, and this is the 2nd year we have appealed to folks to be generous this week and send some stuff to others.  Sometimes you would get a stellar autograph, somethings it was just a few rookies, but it didnt really matter, it was just Jamie being Jamie…

So to Jamie…we miss you, thanks for the memories…