Anything formatted in this style indicates what I consider to be a Michigan uniform photo, regardless of airbrushing, etc.
Today's bunch of rookies is bigger than the last post's as it covers what everyone should know by now is my favorite Michigan draft class, 2008. Here's seven players and 52 cards. Enjoy!
Jamar Adams: 2008 Absolute Memorabilia (#269/799), Donruss Gridiron Gear (#410/999), Leaf Limited (#593/999), Leaf Rookies and Stars Longevity (#706/999), Topps Chrome
I don't show Adams as much love as the other guys since he went undrafted and didn't really play much in the NFL, but he still counts towards this group. His five cards today are a good indicator of much of what you'll see from the other players--lots of numbered cards! My checklist indicates that I have six of his nine RCs, and two of those that are missing are retail versions of the first two cards above. I'd call the Absolute Memorabilia card my favorite of this bunch.
Adrian Arrington: Donruss Classics (#444/999), Donruss Gridiron Gear (#726/999), Finest (#450/699), Playoff Prestige, Select (#495/999), Upper Deck
For a guy who barely got any run in the pros, Arrington appeared on a solid number of rookie cards: 19. Again, lots are numbered, and this is a good looking bunch, with the Gridiron Gear design the weakest in my opinion. The Prestige and its college photo get the obvious win, but there's plenty to like with the rest, including a Refractor-y Finest and the shiny Select, a higher-end version of the solid base Score set. I'm also almost 2/3 of the way done with Arrington at 12/19.
Shawn Crable: Absolute Memorabilia (#635/799), Absolute Memorabilia Retail (#294/799), Bowman Sterling, Donruss Gridiron Gear (#362/999), Donruss Gridiron Gear Retail (#694/999), Leaf Certified Materials (#0325/1500), Leaf Limited (#432/999), Leaf Rookies and Stars (#448/999), Topps Chrome, Ultimate Collection (#035/275), Upper Deck, Upper Deck Draft Edition
Crable was easily the big winner of this post as I scored a crazy 12 of his first-years to give me an almost-complete total of 17/19. Eight of these are numbered, but since Crable was never a big star and has been out of the league for a while, they didn't come close to breaking the bank. The high-end Ultimate card looks pretty nice, but without a doubt I award first place to the Upper Deck version that pairs a college photo with my favorite design of the group; while I love the Draft Edition set, the design pales in comparison to the flagship set.
Mike Hart: Bowman Chrome, Finest (#010/699), Leaf Certified Materials (#0986/1500), Playoff Prestige, Topps Chrome, Topps Kickoff, Ultimate Collection (#236/275)
Hart actually outpaces all 2008 comers with 25 RCs, which is surprising since he was a later-round pick and Jake Long went #1 overall. Not that I'm complaining as I love collecting his cards! This bunch of seven includes a bunch of sets we've already seen in this post, including Finest, Ultimate Collection, and my favorite, Prestige, but it throws in Topps' football version of Opening Day: Kickoff. That'll quickly become familiar as the last three guys from this post also appeared in that product. Today's seven give me a total of 19 of Mike's 25 rookies.
Chad Henne: Bowman Chrome, Donruss Classics (#462/999), Finest (#206/699), Topps Chrome, Topps Kickoff, Topps Letterman (#269/419), Upper Deck Draft Edition
And here's another seven cards, of a guy who wore #7 in college. Once again, a few numbered cards, and again mostly the usual suspects from today. The outlier is the Topps Letterman card, which has the kind of design you don't see too often. You'll see that brand one more time in this post. I've always loved the photo used on the various versions of the UD Draft card because of the funny way Henne is holding the football. By my count he has 22 RCs and I'm now just two short--UD Masterpieces (an SP) and Icons, which is expensive enough that I need that product's card for just about everyone in this class.
Jake Long: Bowman Chrome, Select (#708/999), Topps Chrome, Topps Kickoff, Topps Mayo, Upper Deck Draft Edition
The former #1 overall pick, Long gets six new cards today, including five from sets we've already seen. Naturally, I love the UD Draft card, and I've already said I like the Select product as well. Topps' Mayo set is the new member here, and the somewhat interesting design goes with a great image of Long and a tattoo of his (though you'd think Topps could've zoomed out a bit to show more of it). Like his Wolverines/Dolphins teammate Henne, Long had 22 RCs in 2008, and I can now lay claim to 14 of them, so I'm getting there!
Mario Manningham: Bowman Chrome, Finest (#435/699), Playoff Prestige, Select (#880/999), Stadium Club (#0546/1799), Topps Kickoff, Topps Letterman (#402/419), Topps Mayo, Topps Rookie Progression
Last up is everyone's favorite blog namesake, "Super" Mario Manningham. The former Giants Super Bowl hero has the second-most cards on the day with a full page of nine, including the excellent Finest, Prestige, and Select brands we've already seen. To those we add Stadium Club, which thankfully was back in 2008, and another fun Topps product (did I just say that?), Topps Rookie Progression. The latter eschews backgrounds of images for colors, but the college unis really pop nicely on the cards, such as Mario's home uniform here. Mario has 23 first-years for me to chase and I now own 20 of them while lacking Donruss Classics, Ultimate Collection, and--sigh--Icons.
Well that was a nice chunk of cards to show off, and hopefully I'll be back with more soon, though I'll also try to mix things up with other pickups.
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