Did you know that Joe Montana, Tim Brown, Joe Theismann, Ricky Watters, Nick Buoniconti, Rick Mirer, Dave Casper, John Carney, Paul Hornung, Johnny Lujack, Bobby Taylor, Daryle Lamonica, Alan Page and Jerome Bettis all played for the same team?

They all played for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish!

Collecting players by college is a way to link together athletes who went on to have varying degrees of success in the pro ranks. In your search you will run across players who were bona fide college stars, but didn't quite perform at that same high level in the pros for whatever reason. You will also find sixth-round draft picks that went on to have Hall of Fame careers! You'll of course find a multitude of players that had productive college careers, followed by good five to ten year runs in the NFL.

While many collectors of this kind concentrate on obtaining cards of players in their pro uniforms, don't forget that many college sets have also been released over the years! Not only are several Draft Pick type sets released each year, but many colleges themselves have also released or licensed smaller, limited edition sets.

For the collectors who really want to do their chosen school proud, how about collecting alumni from the other major sports as well? Did you know that baseball players Carl Yastrzemski, Ron Reed, and Craig Counsell all attended Notre Dame? How about Notre Dame basketball alumni Adrian Dantley, John Paxson, Bill Laimbeer, and Orlando Woolridge, to name a few?

Collecting by college is an absolute potpourri of what is, what was, and what might have been, and if you choose to collect this way, you will need to study for your Masters Degree in fun!