Tag Archives: ttm football autograph

Tillman, Lewis

Cards: Topps 1991, ProSet 1989
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent:  10/8        Received: 10/20     (12 days)

Lewis Tillman is another member of the solid 1989 NFL Draft Class.  Graduating from Jackson St, Tillman was a two time I-AA All-America, breaking Walter Payton’s single season rushing (1,436 yards) and career rushing record with 3,969 yards. Tillman was selected in the 3rd round by the New York Giants, who collected runningbacks for their offensive rotation. 

Lewis finished his rookie season with 79 carries for 290 yards as the Giants won Super Bowl XXV. He’d score his first professional TD in 1990, during a 31-7 win over the Rams. The Giants continued to employ Lewis consistently, but sparingly in 1991. He’d rush for another 287 yards on 65 carries.  After a quiet 1992, Tillman had 585 yards and 3 TDs including a career long 58 yard long run. 

Lewis signed with the Bears in 1994. He’d have the best season of his career. He’d set across the board personal highs with 275 carries for 899 yards and 7 TDs to go along with 27 receptions for 222 yards.  He wouldn’t be able to duplicate his feat in 1995- as the Bears drafted Rashaan Salaam in the 1st round. Buried on the depth chart behind Salaam and Robert Green, Tillman retired after the conclusion of the season.

Tillman has enjoyed a fine career after his playing days. He’s gone into coaching and has climbed to the college level. Currently in 2019 he’s a coach for the Texas Southern Tigers.

Great cards of Lewis here, but I really would’ve loved to have gotten his autograph on his Score 1990 entry, but he must have really liked it and didn’t have it for his collection, as he kept it. A solid TTM repsonder, I loved getting his autograph on these cards nonetheless.

G/GSRUSHYDSAVGTDLG
109/2765923833.61258
RECYDSAVGTDLG
433157.3039

Morris, Jamie

Cards: ProSet 1989, Action Packed 1989
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Work
Sent: 11/7    Received: 11/16   (9 days)
Failure: 2011, C/o Michigan

Jamie Morris is one of the smallest players to play runningback in the NFL. At a mere 5’7″, 188 he towered over opponents toting the rock for the Michigan Wolverines. He had 3 straight 1,000 yard seasons for Ann Arbor, culminating in his Senior campaign in 1987 when he had 282 carries for 1703 yards and 14 TDs. He finished his college career as the school’s all-time leading rusher with 806 carries for 4392 yards, 25 TDs and 99 receptions (also a school record) for 756 yards and 3 TDs. Jamie was selected in the 4th round of the 1988 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins.

Jamie made it onto the regular season roster of the Redskins, where he was designated primarily as a kick returner. Still over the course of the 16 game schedule, Morris managed to put together 126 carries for 437 yards and 2 TDs. He also returned 21 kicks for 413 yards. Jamie is perhaps best remembered by Redskins faithful as the back who set the NFL record with 45 carries (152 yards) in a 20-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in 1988.  It should be noted that over his short but notable NFL career, Jamie posted a 38 carry game and a 26 carry game in 1989 as well. 

Morris signed with the New England Patriots in 1990 where he served primarily as a kick returner. He finished with 11 returns for 202 yards and 2 carries for 4 yards. Afterwards Jamie joined the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL in 1991. He had a career high 591 yards rushing, 263 yards receiving, and 435 kick return yards.

Jamie lives in Michigan and is involved deeply with his Alma Mater. I tried writing him a few years ago care of Michigan when he was working for the Athletic Department as a development manager but had no luck. Recently some successes popped up of him through the radio station where he hosts a show talking all things Wolverines- so I decided to give him another shot on these two awesome cards. Although I was happy to finally knock this retry reply off my list, I was pained to see he knew enough about Action Packed that he should sign the card in the autograph slot on the back of the card. It is truly a beautiful card however.

Action Packed did sort of a test run in 1989 with the big two titans (ProSet and Score), but got lost in the mix. The only difference between the lesser known 89 and 90 releases is that the marquee was colored on the front of the card. The 1990 set even reused some of the photos from the previous year.

NFL  G/GPRUSHYDSAVGTDLG
33/72527773.1427
RECYDSAVGTDLG
9687.6017
KRYDSAVGTDLG
3261519.2035

______________________________________________________________________________

CFL RUSHYDSAVGTDLG 
1395914.3232
RECYDSAVGTDLG
282639.4158
KRYDSAVGTDLG
1943522.9035

Ford, Dontez

Cards: Topps AAF 2019, Topps AAF 2019 Certified, Topps AAF 2019 Player Card, Topps AAF 2019 NOW, Topps AAF 2019 Future Stars
Acquired: 2019, EBay. 2019, TTM C/o Home
Sent: 7/15 Received: 7/23 (8 Days)

Dontez Ford started his college football career at Syracuse where he was initially classified as a free safety. After a year there, he transferred to Pitt in 2014. Injuries limited his experience at wide receiver, but in 2015 he had a solid year playing in all 12 games posting 26 receptions for 505 yards and 2 TDs. Over his college career he recorded 46 receptions for 843 yards and 5 TDs.

Dontez did not get drafted in 2016, but later signed a futures contract on January 1st, 2018 with the Detroit Lions. After being cut in September he joined the AAF San Diego Fleet. He immediately asserted himself in the offense during the Fleet’s preseason contest against Orlando when Dontez caught 11 of 11 targets for 114 yards and a TD.

Dontez provided to be the big play weapon that the offense needed to stretch defenses at the X position. Paired alongside Nelson Spruce, Dontez and Nelson both ranked inside the top 10 in receiving. – The only pair in the league to do so. Ford set league marks in his final game (WK 6- BIR) – catching 3 passes for 182 yards, and being immortalized in his own Topps NOW AAF card. His destruction of the Iron would have only been more complete if he hadn’t injured his ankle during the 3rd quarter of the game.

“Dontez is that guy, like Torry Holt, that guy at the X position that we could choreograph plays just for him. That normal play can turn into a huge play and he demonstrated that. He made so many really big plays for us tonight. It was just unfortunate that he couldn’t stay in. But that’s who he is. He’s going to have a heck of a career in the NFL. He’s top notch, no question.”

– Mike Martz
San Diego Fleet Head Coach

Unfortunately the ankle injury sidelined Dontez the remainder of the AAF season- and without him in the lineup, the Fleet lost to Birmingham and sunk their last 2 games. Dontez caught 15 of 28 targets for 435 yards and a TD in 6 games.

Ford’s numbers are very interesting to study. In his week 5 contest against Salt Lake City– he did all his damage catching long bomb passes. In his complete evisceration of the Birmingham defense, Dontez zigged and zagged 122 of 182 yards after the catch- on 3 catches.

His rehab stretched into the ‘off season’, and he was not present for the XFL combines, however I would think based off of his production he will make a welcome addition to any of the new teams or back to the NFL.

I had bought Dontez’s Topps Certified card off of Ebay for 4 bucks and then a few days later Mark (Mark’s Signing Bonus) contacted me and told me that Dontez signed a card for him and threw in an extra! I went onto EBay immediately and got Ford’s Topps Now AAF card for super cheap and then sent his base card, Future Stars, and the Topps Now card out. Ford responded lightening fast to my request and threw in at first what I thought was another Certified autograph card.

However, if you look closely at the left card (Player issue) versus the right card (Topps Certified), there are some subtle differences. First, the left one on the front does not have the gradient fade that the right card has above the team logo. Second, the left card just above the marquee, has the words ‘PLAYER ISSUE’ on it. The right one says ‘TOPPS CERTIFIED AUTOGRAPH’. Finally on the back of the cards the word Autograph and the autograph witnessing blurb on the back is not present on the Player issue card.

It should be assumed then that the players were handed these cards after signing their own for whatever purposes that they wanted- and that they are initially unsigned. I’m glad that I recognized the differences between the two, as I suspect once the market bottoms out and then the certified stock disappears over the years, that more of the Player Issue cards will slip into the secondary market. At this time I am unsure as to which cards- if either- will hold any value.