Buzz Break: 2020 Leaf Metal U.S. Army All-American Bowl

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there’s a box you’d want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 2020 Leaf Metal U.S. Army All-American Bowl football cards (hobby box)
First Buzz preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (both formats)

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Packs per box: 1
Cards in this box: 8

Autographs/Memorabilia: 8 (all in gallery below)
All-American Bowl Silver Metal Autographs (1) – Brady Ward (Ole Miss) (/50)
All-American Bowl Blue Metal Autographs (3) – Javon Baker (Alabama), Edgerrin Cooper (Texas A&M), Gus Hartwig (Purdue) (/25)
All-American Bowl Purple Metal Autographs (1) – Jalen Kimber (Georgia) (/15)
Tour Autographs White (1) – Bryan Bresee (Clemson) (/7)
Tour Autographs Red (1) – Clyde Pinder Jr. (North Carolina) (/3)
Emerald Patch Autographs (1) – Bijan Robinson (Texas) (/25)

What's Buzz-worthy: College football season is here albeit in a modified form and that means we get new looks at guys who, believe it or not, can already have cardboard thanks to this prep All-Star event that can be stacked with notables and now comes in two box types with exclusive inclusions in both formats (click here to view the checklist). I've been a bit spoiled with this one in the last few years with Buzz Breaks. My first box a couple years ago? Well, it included a rare Tua Tagovailoa auto just days after he arrived with a national championship game comeback. After that? Well, I landed a McCaffrey auto -- no, not Ed or Christian ... I got Dylan -- but that kind of shows you how things can go. Photos and designs here are improved over just a few years ago and the cards are generally all pretty low volume with a higher volume of cards in the other box format (since everything here is a hit, they cost more than this one). Why rip here? Check out jut one name on the box, Bryce Young, over on eBay. Sure, those are lofty asking prices but switch to completeds and you'll see him paying for boxes if he's landed. He's not alone and I landed a couple of players -- the other guy on the box for starters, who will pay for a good chunk of my box here. And others have some solid potential. The Tour cards are made and signed earlier in the process for this event so their card backs don't note where a player committed but the others all do show ... a good thing for those who don't follow recruiting like its a sport. (I'm school-centric ... and still don't know names until they arrive on the field.) These boxes are different than past years -- cards arrive in a slider box instead of top-loaders and the Tour sigs are stickers (at least were in mine) -- and I'd bet those are both developments thanks to COVID. If you're high on the college game or chasing/flipping the jumbo boxes include more volume and that means more shots at rare stuff and the notables now as well as cards for guys who will take time to develop. A ton of NFL notables have been found here in past years and this one can have a longer shelf life as guys sell as college stars and then as prospective NFL Draft picks. There also will be a lot of names you won't know and who'll never have cards again -- I pulled a pair of offensive linemen who probably wouldn't even get cards if they ended up in the NFL -- so it's not a super-easy place to prospect ... but it's essentially the only way to do so. It can pay off big as long as you can get boxes early. Fewer than 140 cases of each format were made ... so they don't last long and prices can get volatile if one player inside them legitimately blows up later on like Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, who was in the 2018 release and will be the likely No. 1 pick in 2021.

Product Grade: A
Box Grade: A
Fun Grade: B+

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