A Ten Year Quest is Complete

I have been collecting USC Trojan football players since around 2004 or 2005, about 5-6 years prior to starting my Giants collection.  USC had a great run around that time and it ended up producing a pretty large number of pro players. It made busting boxes fun and I was always on the lookout for the newest draft picks.

There have been a few players that have become bigger targets of my collection.  On such player was Ryan Kalil.  Kalil was a great offensive lineman for the Trojans and was drafted by the Panthers in 2007.  He was immediately inserted into the starting lineup and has made a couple of Pro Bowls.  When his first cards came out in the Sage releases I made a decision to try and "super collect" Kalil. My goal was to track down all his cards, including 1/1s.  I was thinking with him being an o-lineman, competition would be light.  Unfortunately once he became Pro Bowl material some of his cards got outside of my price range.

I have a saved eBay search still for Ryan Kalil 1/1 cards and a little while back a new one popped up.  I made a bid and ended up winning this card.

This is a Magenta Printing Plate from 2007 Sage Hit DECADEnce.  The card is a Playmakers insert.  When I got the card, it looked a little familiar and when I cataloged it on my spreadsheet I got pretty excited.  I went to my box of USC hits, pulled out 3 other plates and boom!

I am now the proud owner of a complete set of 1/1 printing plates, all picked up at different times over the past 10 years.  This is a first for me and maybe a last - who knows.

I also thought I would share this other sweet Kalil card out of 2016 Donruss Signature.  Another low numbered (1/5) card added to the USC and Kalil collection.  I may not ever acquire every Ryan Kalil card but my collection is shaping up quite nice.