2018 COMC purchases: 32 of Rookie Blue, and a 70-year-old card too!

I decided that part two of this latest COMC series would cover all of the new football RCs I picked up this time.  As usual it's a nice eclectic bunch, one that mostly spans 2000-2018, but I also managed to add what's now the oldest card in my entire collection!

And this would be the big winner, a 1948 Bowman rookie of Robert Nussbaumer, a guy who as far as I can tell is making his debut in my collection today.  A "left halfback" (things sure were different back then), Nussbaumer played for Michigan from 1943-45, appearing in 29 games and averaging a solid 5.8 YPC.  After Green Bay took him in the '46 draft, "Bomber" spent two seasons each with the Packers, Redskins, and Chicago Cardinals, closing his career where he started it.

Needless to say I'm very excited to add this 70-year-old card to my collection of Michigan football rookies and vintage stuff!  1948 is as far back as my checklist goes, and I'm chasing cards from Al Wistert, Gene Derricotte, and Merv Pregulman from that year as well.  Nussbaumer joins Wistert in appearing in both '48 Bowman and Leaf while Derricotte can be found in the latter and Pregulman the former.  Whenever I can add any of those it'll be another cause for celebration!

And now we move ahead to modern day, starting with 2000.  I decided to present these in chronological and then alphabetical order (mostly).

The 2000 group comprises Pacific's Omega cards of WR Marcus Knight and TE Aaron Shea.  As is often the case in this series their cards are numbered, #053/500 for Knight and #246/500 for Shea.  That and/or short-printing tends to inflate prices but I ended up doing reasonably well this time.

2001 brings one of my favorite one-two punches in David Terrell and Anthony Thomas (reversed in the scan because I'm stupid).  The WR appears on the Retail version of that year's Pacific Dynagon while the A-Train shows up on Fleer Focus (#0154/1850), Pacific's Private Stock (#061/200), and Upper Deck's confusing Rookie F/X RC (#127/750), which includes multiple versions.

FB B.J. Askew represents 2003 with one of my favorite brands, Prestige, on one of its best designs, again bringing the college uni love.  Possession WR Jason Avant brings the scan and his RC collection to a close with 2006's Flair Showcase (#358/499) and Select (#506/599).  That Showcase card is one of the coolest in my bunch of rookies!

TE Tim Massaquoi leads off this bunch with his 2006 Bowman Sterling first year, leaving me short just his Ultimate Collection card from the same year.  Then we go on a little 2007 run beginning with Alan Branch

...destroyer of QBs, on his Wolverines-approved Ultra RC.  Transferred QB Matt Gutierrez makes his second appearance in this series with his Leaf Limited rookie (#186/399), another numbered affair.  CB Leon Hall brings us back to one of the school's better defenses with Donruss Elite (#078/599) and Ultra Retail cards, two more examples of college shots.  I love that '07 Elite design!  Closing out the year, beastly DE/LB LaMarr Woodley pops up on Leaf Rookies and Stars Longevity (#229/999).

Now we take a quick look into my favorite draft class, 2008.  Mike Hart starts things off on his Icons RC (#508/750), one product that's been my nemesis for a while.  Jake Long's UD Masterpieces card was a short print from that beautiful set, but I finally found a price I could handle.  And Mr. Namesake himself, Super Mario Manningham is back on another good example of a nice Donruss Classics (#371/999) design.  But that's not the last we'll see of #82...

...because he leads off this scan with the final of the 23 RCs I needed, Ultimate Collection (#032/275).  That means he joins Avant as players whose rookie collections I completed today, along with the next guy, QB/WR Devin Gardner on his 2015 Topps Field Access base, a.k.a. his only RC appearance on my checklist.  A 2016 Certified card of another QB, Jake Rudock (#794/999), puts me three away from completing another player's run.

And now we can close out a fun look at Michigan rookies with 10 cards from the outstanding 2017 class.  TE Jake Butt and WR Amara Darboh star on Donruss Optic cards that bookend a pair of pairs.  Cowboys DT Taco Charlton is the #1 attraction here on cards from Classics and Prestige, with both brands clearly in top form.  Chiefs WR Jehu Chesson gives us a look at a couple other brands in Certified (#513/999) and Panini Phoenix, which brings the shiny in droves!

Here's one last defensive pair, starting with all-everything guy Jabrill Peppers from Prestige again plus Select.  I sure do wish Panini didn't have a football monopoly because I'd like to see other brands and their designs, but since I have to put up with that I'm thankful for how great Prestige is year in and year out.  Lastly I dug up a pair of Ravens DE Chris Wormley:  another example of Panini's Phoenix plus my first of Unparalleled, which is a bit busy but plenty shiny.

I had a blast buying and posting this big group, especially the '48 Bowman card, of course, and I'm happy to announce that more rookies are on their way to me from Sportlots.  Before then I still have lots of COMC football content to get to!