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For years, the NCAA basketball and football sets from Panini provided the first chance to get cards from the latest draft class. And for years, the excitement around those cards would be short lived. The conventional wisdom was don’t buy college cards because they never hold their value. This is why collecting college cards gets mixed reactions in the hobby.

In this post, I discuss why I like college cards and why I recently added three NCAA football cards to my collection.

Capture the Memories

The emotional responses I get to memories from my time at the University of Illinois are some of the strongest I experience. Whether it is walking the campus or attending a football or basketball game, I find myself flooded with emotion at least a few times during the event.

Last fall, we bought Illini football season tickets for the first time in over ten years. My high school age daughters were the ones pushing us to get them which was a bit of a surprise since they don’t like to watch sports on TV at all.

We had a blast.

One of the ways I decided to commemorate the season was to pick up a couple cards of the key members of the team.

2024 Bowman Chrome University Pat Bryant #142

The first card I picked up on Ebay was a Bowman Chrome University card of Pat Bryant. I decided to go with the Sapphire edition because the color match was just awesome. It cost me less than $2 delivered.

Bryant played all four years at Illinois and tied the single season touchdown record for a wide receiver as a senior. He is fourth in career touchdowns, he was second in the Big Ten in receiving yards, and he made the AP All-Big Ten 1st team. Pat Bryant made memories, including a last second touchdown reception from Luke Altmyer to win the game against Rutgers.

2022-23 Bowman University Inception Luke Altmyer #39

To get my Luke Altmyer card I had to go back a season or two. I would have loved to get a Bowman Chrome U card to match the Pat Bryant, but Topps didn’t put him in the set. However, he does have a card in the 2022-23 Bowman University Inception set. I could have just picked up a standard base card, but I really liked the orange and blue color combination so I found the blue parallel version. It is serial numbered to 99 copies and it cost me about $5-$6 on eBay.

Altmyer started his college career at Mississippi and came to Illinois as a redshirt sophomore. He started 9 games as a sophomore and then went on to start all 13 games last season as a junior. He led the team to a 10-3 record which tied the program’s single season wins record. Speaking of memory makers, he had three game-winning touchdown passes in the final two minutes or overtime. Let’s go ahead and check out that Altmyer to Bryant connection!

2023 Prizm Draft Chase Brown Autograph

This last one wasn’t connected to the 2024 Illini season, but it was still a key addition to my Illinois collection.

An early season injury to Zack Moss opened the door for Chase Brown to shine for the 2024 Cincinnati Bengals. He proved to be a dual threat option racking up 990 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground while adding 54 receptions for 360 yards and four touchdowns through the air.

The Illini Nation showed their excitement for Brown during the “Illini in the NFL” video segments which were played at each Memorial Stadium Home Game. As the season progressed and he had more and more on field success, the fan reaction to the Chase Brown clips grew louder and louder.

I didn’t have any Brown autos in my collection. I could have gotten one in his NFL uniform, but that wouldn’t have been any fun! I decided to go with the 2023 Prizm Draft Picks Blue Parallel which pictures him sprinting down the field in his home blue uniform and is serial numbered to 75 copies.

They are available on eBay for $30-35. This is a great example of how college uniform cards do sell for less than pro uniform cards. His 2023 autographed cards in Bengals uniforms absolutely sell for more, but as an Illini fan I wanted the U of I card! It saved me money and provides a connection to the memories of watching him rush in Champaign.

Wrapping It Up

Yes, it is true that college uniform cards typically sell for less than the pro uniform options. That may be a negative for NFL collectors, but for alumni and fans of your favorite university, it just means you get to collect some great cards of your favorite college players at a great price!

Whether it’s guys like Chase Brown and Arrelious Benn on the football side, or Kendall Gill, Ayo Dosunmu, and Terrance Shannon Jr. on the basketball side, give me the cards where they are wearing the orange and blue.