Category Archives: AAF

AAF, Arena, CFL, NFL

Philips, Ervin

CARD: Topps AAF 2019 Certified
ACQUIRED: 2019, Personal Break
FAILURE: TTM 2020, C/o Home

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Ervin Philips played WR at Syracuse from 2014-’17.
  • He caught 225 passes for 2070 yards and 16 TDs over his time for the Orangemen.
  • Was on the practice squad of the Buccaneers in 2018.
  • Selected by the Atlanta Legends of the AAF in 2019.
  • In 2 starts caught 9 passes for 96 yards.
  • Played for the Baltimore Brigade of the Arena Football League later that year.
  • Caught 12 passes for 84 yards.
  • After COVID, dressed for the Redblacks of the CFL in 2021, but didn’t see any action.

NOTES:

Wow. I so love this card of Ervin. It’s a great action shot of him. It’s a shame I couldn’t get his base card signed to match.

AAF, CFL

Brady, Latarius

CARD: Topps AAF 2019 Hack
ACQUIRED: TTM 2020, C/o Home
SENT: 8/17/20 RECEIVED: 8/29/20 (11 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • A home grown product, Latarius Brady played college ball at the University of Memphis from 2013-’16.
  • After joining the school as an OL, he played TE as a Freshman.
  • He then moved to DE where he played the following two seasons.
  • Latarius played in 38 consecutive games before he suffered a torn ACL in Spring drills his Senior season.
  • He’d recover in time to see action at both DT and DE in 8 contests.
  • Over his time in Memphis, Latarius put together 64 total tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 pass deflections, and 2 forced fumbles.
  • Undrafted and keeping the dream alive, Latarius went to work teaching physical education and coaching DL at a local high school.
  • In 2019, he attended an open tryout, and signed with the Memphis Express of the Alliance of American Football.
  • He posted 8 total tackles, and a sack in 4 starts.
  • After the league terminated operations he saw time in the XFL 20 with the Los Angeles Wildcats.
  • His best game came against the NY Guardians, when he posted 3 total tackles, and .5 sacks in a 17-14 loss.
  • As of 2025, he’s diligently working his way up the college coaching ranks.

NOTES:

I contacted Latarius through Twitter and he gleefully responded and signed this card in exchange for a few extras. I was still refining my style at this point on the card and quality, so I may revisit him at a future date with a nicer looking version of this card.

AAF, NFL

Spruce, Nelson (2)

CARDS: Topps XFL 2020 Certified, Topps XFL 2020, Topps XFL 2020 NOW, Topps AAF Certified 2019 HACK, Panini Contenders Draft Picks 2016 Gameday, Sage 2016 Artistry
ACQUIRED: Personal Break, 2020. TTM 2019, C/o Home. TTM 2024, C/o Home
SENT: 6/3/19 RECEIVED: 6/15/20 (378 days)
SENT: 7/10 RECEIVED: 8/30 (51 days)

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • See Also Nelson Spruce
  • After being released by the Rams, Nelson signed with the Bears in October of 2017.
  • Then after two small stints with the Chiefs and Chargers, Nelson signed with the San Diego Fleet of the AAF at the tail end of 2018.
  • In Week 7 against the Arizona Hotshots in 2019, he had 12 catches for 146 yards.
  • He finished 5th with 426 yards and second in catches with 38.
  • After the collapse of the AAF- he was a 3rd round pick of the Los Angeles Wildcats of the XFL in 2020.
  • Caught 20 passes for 256 yards and 2 scores in 3 starts.
  • Unfortunately the COVID pandemic derailed the XFL season after the midway point of the season.
  • Spent about 6 months on the off-season roster of the Montreal Alouettes in 2021.
  • As of 2024- is a VP of brand/ product development with FIBR.

NOTES:

OK. So I sat intentionally on Nelson’s post for a while. Almost right after I got his autographs back from 2019, I popped open a box of XFL 2020 and, “Pfbbbttt,” There’s Nelson’s XFL base card- so I had to get that signed too. Then it hit me… Nelson, despite his stat line and prominence in the AAF, doesn’t appear in the set. I needed to do all that before throwing up another post about him.

I really upped my quality on the custom cards across the board, down to the print quality and design. I was very happy with how the AAF card turned out, and I sent an extra for him to keep as well.