Reid's Rips: 2024 Bowman University Chrome Football Blaster Box
I decided to get into the college football gameday spirit and crack a blaster box of the brand new 2024 Bowman University Chrome Football.
Blaster (value) boxes offer seven, 4 card packs with three value box exclusive pink lava parallels and one regular refractor.
Bowman U Chrome Football has filled the Bowman Chrome Baseball lane on the gridiron, offering first cards, first autos, and early cards of future pros and pro prospects.
The key card from my first pack was one of my value box pink lava parallels, this one of Michigan running back Donovan Edwards. Although it's definitely been a down year for Michigan football, Edwards has been rock solid, rushing for almost 600 yards, four touchdowns and nearly 5.0 yards per carry.
My second pack yielded my second value box parallel, this one being a 1st Bowman of Clemson safety Khalil Barnes. The sophomore was a freshman All American last season, becoming the first freshman in the Dabo Swinney era to record multiple interceptions and multiple forced fumbles as a first year player.
The best card in my following pack was an Acropolis insert of LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. I'm a big fan of the Greek and Roman architecture but I'm not sure exactly how it fits on this insert card. Maybe, like the Acropolis meaning, the athletes featured in this set are at the top of their cities? Another interesting card I got from that pack was a first Bowman of Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams. Williams turned heads earlier this year with his blazing speed and some ESPN highlight reel catches and touchdown jaunts. So this was a cool card to see in my pack.
My next pack held an insert card of Arizona Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita from an insert set called Campus Icons. I totally understand that the sports world and the sports card hobby specifically are both prone to exaggeration and overstatement, but calling this kid, and pretty much any current college athlete, an icon is pretty wild. The card companies and card designers throw any name, reasonable or otherwise, out there in sets these days.
I found my one guaranteed refractor in the next pack in the University of Miami running back Mark Fletcher, Jr. The running back is having a nice season for Miami, gaining 500 yards on the ground and six touchdowns so far for a one loss Hurricanes team.
In my next to last pack I pulled a nice refractor of Ohio State corner back Davison Igbinosun. The junior corner has two interceptions on the season, one of which I saw first-hand when he broke the hearts of the Nittany Lion faithful in State College, helping hand Penn State their lone loss this season.
My final pack held my final pink lava refractor. This time I got my hands on UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers. It's great to see the senior putting up the best numbers and getting the most playing time of his career this season.
For the low, low price of $25.99, it was a pretty fun, inexpensive way to get my hands on a few of the new Bowman Chrome University football cards.
Tony Reid spent more than a decade covering combat sports at the highest level. He has written hundreds of articles and conducted hundreds of interviews about sports collectibles for such publications as Beckett, Sports Collectors Digest, and Sports Collectors Daily. Reid worked full time at a sports card shop in Central Pennsylvania for a number of years. A lifelong collector, Tony treasures his rookie card collection of star players in baseball, basketball, and football. If you want to discuss the greatness of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson or Ken Griffey Jr., you can reach him at @tonyreidwrites on all social media platforms