Review: 2011 Upper Deck

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I’ve always been one of the biggest skeptics when it comes to Upper Deck and their NCAA-only license. I’ve often referred to them as upscale versions of Press Pass or Sage. Then came Exquisite and some pretty nice cards from that product. Now comes Upper Deck’s first base product since 2009.

The first thing I can say about this product is that I really like the design. It’s not as though it is ground-breaking. It’s pretty much the same kind of design we’ve come to expect from base Upper Deck products of the last several years. In fact, this was very similar to the design that Upper Deck unveiled for their 2010 base design before their NFL license was revoked. What is good about this design is that it really does feel like an Upper Deck product, making the fact that it is only NCAA slightly easier to digest.

Adding to the enjoyment of this set is the photography. This set easily possesses the best set of college photography I’ve ever seen. Even images from the 50s seem to look as if they were taken a week or two ago. My guess is they found some people really good at Photoshop.

Another positive part of the set is the parallels. Upper Deck is giving us 20th anniversary cards as a parallel to the entire base set. These cards have the 1991 Upper Deck football design, which still stands up after all these years.

Where this product falls short is the checklist. Although they have a license for the NCAA, they no longer have a license with the NFLPA, which means that the checklist will only have past NFL greats in their college uniforms, but only 50 of them. The remaining 150 cards belong to what this set is truly all about and that is upcoming NFL rookies in the form of Star Rookies. And what would any current rookie set be without Autograph versions. There are plenty of them to go around in this set of all the top rookies.

The autographs don’t end there. Rookie Signature Lettermen make their way into this product, sometimes falling two to a box. My only problem with adding lettermen to this product is that there are getting to be so many manufactured products on the market. The “holy crap” factor that we used to get from pulling one of these is becoming less and less with each new product that includes one, even though they still look very pleasant to the eye.

Some of the inserts making it into this set include SATURDAY IN ACTION, showcasing college greats in borderless action shots, including Barry Sanders practically flying through the air.

DREAM TANDEMS is about two players creating the dream team. Whether it be players that played for the same college, such as Bo Jackson and Cam Newton, or great players that would have been great together like Barry Sanders and Jerry Rice.

HISTORICAL PROGRAMS gives us a look into some of the colleges that have given us many great players over the years.

CLASS OF...is all about graduation, or when the great players graduated from college.

CONFERENCE CLASHES is all about the rivalries between schools. Including telling us which school is winning the rivalry, while giving us a player from each school, including John Elway versus Jake Locker.

Lastly, it would be unfair for me to mention that EVOLUTION makes it’s debut in this set. The controversial video cards are inserted in boxes, as an insert into the foam used to protect the cards, rather than being inserted as the lone card in a pack. My full review of that will be in Episode 62, as well as appearing on this site in a few days.

Overall, this set is solid. It definitely matches up against the Press Pass’s and Sage’s of years past, and moves forward in areas where neither company could. This is a good set with great photography. If current NFL players were in this set, it would be complete.

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