Over the last few weeks, both Topps and Panini have been pimping their early offerings for the calendar year, and both have been trying to make up for an inabilty to use NCAA jerseys in the photos with different approaches. After seeing what both have to offer, it looks to be that both Upper Deck’s licensed NCAA cards and Leaf’s Unlicensed NCAA cards are well above what we are seeing from both of the licensed companies.

At least with Topps, they are trying something that they have never done before with Rising Rookies, but from what I can tell, im not really liking the cards they have previewed so far. Like Panini, Topps has decided to go with manufactured patches for the cards, something that I think really doesn’t add anything to the design. In this case, if they had gone the direction that Panini went with the “Insert Team Helmet Here” approach, I think they would have turned out much better. Personally, I hate cards that feature the rookies without helmets on, something that is present on all of the cards that have been previewed over the last week or two. With Leaf, and Upper Deck, you may not get NFL branded stuff, but the photos are full uniform in both cases and really add to the appeal of the cards.

Panini, as usual, has mailed it in when coming up with creative solutions to the problems with lack of NCAA licensing, as a grand total of ZERO things they are doing are brand new for this year. In fact, two of the three cards they are previewing look IDENTICAL to the cards they released last year, something that makes me question the effort they are even putting in when producing the cards. The manupatch cloth autographs are so incredibly lame and played out, that I don’t think I am the only one that cringes every time they trot them out for the four sets they use them in per year. Its hard to watch, as they have done little to nothing to earn my business. That is, if they even want my business considering I “don’t represent their target consumer.”

I will say this, although the helmet cards are nothing new, they do look much better than anything put out by either company this year. The hard signed cards are a plus, especially when they left room to include the NFL team that drafts the player that signed the card. Its funny, I used to think that a hard signed autograph can cure any ailment for most cards, which it definitely does for the helmet cards, but the other draft cards are beyond horrible in the design. Why is the draft logo bigger than the player picture? Why are those pictures way up there in the corner? I just don’t get who thinks this is acceptable over at Panini. At least Topps went with bigger pictures for their cards, as the PLAYERS not the DRAFT LOGO should ALWAYS be the subject.

So far, with what we have seen coming from Topps down the road im not very worried with their plan for the 2011 Season, but Panini, as you well know, is a completely different story. Both Prestige AND Elite look like very little has been updated in terms of design and content, and with these preview cards from Prestige being rehashes, it could be very likely that Panini’s era of FAIL will continue well into the new season.