If you have been reading this site, you know how much I love autographs. You also probably know how much I love inscriptions on said autographs. When I heard Upper Deck was coming out with a product that prominently featured both of my favorite categories of cards, my ears perked up. Now that we see some examples, its going to be quite an interesting product indeed.

Upper Deck isnt the first to try a pre-draft inscription based product, but they are the first one to do it with NCAA CLC licensed cards. They previously did some awesome NCAA based inscriptions in 2014 SP Authentic. That adds a bit of allure to the product indeed.

Take a look:

2014 SP Authentic Sammy Watkins Auto Inscription

2014 SP Authentic Blake Bortles Inscription Auto SSP

2014 SP Authentic Zach Mettenberger Inscription Auto Patch /10

I mean, there are some really nice inscription cards out there over the year, but they usually dont come until later in the calendar:

2014 Inception Carlos Hyde Inscription Auto Gold /10

2013 Five Star Eddie Lacy Auto Quotables Inscription

2013 National Treasures Gale Sayers Auto Inscription

This will likely be one of the last products before Panini takes over the CLC license exclusive that granted Upper Deck the opportunity to produce licensed college cards. There has already been speculation that they will continue to produce unlicensed sets after it kicks in, but we have yet to hear any details. As a fan of Upper Deck’s sets and design style, I hope that happens.

Inscriptions is definitely going to turn some heads, and I like that they have previews of many of the top guys in the 2015 draft. There will be a lot of concern that the checklist will be diluted, but at the same time, college collectors are rabid in enough ways that it might not matter as much as it would in the NFL.

Leaf Trinity will be a direct competitor here, and its all going to come down to who can deliver more. Hell, there is no reason they both cant be successful. I like the design of this set A LOT, and Leaf has usually been around the same level. We will see how it all shakes out soon.

Check out the cool preview cards: