This might be the most satisfying jersey match I’ve ever performed.

Last week I saw that a seller listed a bundle of Middle Tennessee football jerseys on eBay for $35 each. The jerseys had no information as to the year they were worn and all nameplates had been removed.

Mysterious jerseys with no provenance from a random school? Challenge accepted.

I pulled up a list of NFL players and draft picks who played for Middle Tennessee in the past decade and a few names came up. I used the school’s yearly rosters to find their numbers then searched the seller’s listings for those jersey numbers. One of the hits that came up was #30, which was worn by Darius Harris (2015-2018) and Jakobe Thomas (2021-2023). The jersey showed a lot of use, with paint transfers and ripped seams. Interesting.

I zoomed in closely on the seller’s photos and noticed a very faint outline of a captain’s patch on the right shoulder. I also noticed that the C-USA patch was sitting overtop the outline of a larger patch that was previously removed. I did some photo searching and noticed that graduate players wore a special C-USA patch that was larger than the normal one.

More searching found that Darius Harris was a redshirt senior in 2018 and was also named a captain that year. I scoured the internet for photos of him from his college days and although I found multiple with the same jersey style, the nameplate on the back was much more narrow than the nameplate stitch outline on the jersey for sale.

After a couple hours of searching I said screw it, the jersey is only $35, just buy it and resume the research when it arrives. I don’t love buying a jersey before I’ve photomatched it but that price is solid even for a generic game-used college jersey.

It arrived in the mail today and I got back to work. I hit some dead ends in my photo searching (surprisingly enough, major media outlets don’t send many photographers to Middle Tennessee games), but then I realized the clue was sitting right in front of me. In Jakobe Thomas’ 2022 team photo, I could clearly see the same outline of the removed C-USA graduate patch, along with a couple matching paint transfer scrapes on the shoulder. Business just picked up.

I performed Google image searches to determine the games in which Middle Tennessee used this jersey style in 2022. One of the hits was a showdown against Western Kentucky. Thomas had a big game, logging a bunch of tackles. I found the game posted online and scrubbed through the footage, watching the defensive plays closely. At one point the camera zoomed in on Thomas after he made a play and I could clearly see the swooping dark paint transfer on the front #3, along with matching paint transfers on the shoulders.

Boom. I turned nothing into something. Pure sweat equity. That’s why I love this hobby.

I’ll never know for certain, but if I had to guess, the team intended the jersey as an alternate for Darius Harris, which is why the jersey had the graduate logo and captain’s patch at one point. They probably didn’t put his nameplate on the back, and after he graduated they removed the patches to get the jersey back into circulation, ultimately repurposing it for Jakobe Thomas.

Thomas went on to join Miami in 2025 after leaving Middle Tennessee, playing a key defensive role in the Hurricanes’ run to the National Championship game. He was drafted by the Vikings in the 3rd round in April. Wherever he goes from here, he has at least one supporter.

No need to rub your eyes - the “King of Rock and Roll” didn’t return to play quarterback for the Panthers in the 1990s. Apparently Kerry Collins liked to moonlight as an Elvis impersonator, as captured in this 1997 Pinnacle Trophy Collection card. I became aware of this card’s existence last weekend, and I doubt Kerry could’ve played “Hound Dog” in the time it took me to purchase it.

Side note: This is the place on the Venn Diagram where my collection (junk wax football parallels) overlaps with @cardsforchrist’s collection (all things Elvis). Gotta love Mantel.

I recently acquired this game-used Western Kentucky University football jersey of linebacker Chris Bullard, dated to either 2009 or 2010.

I picked up this jersey for a few reasons. First, it shows great signs of use. Bullard was a linebacker despite the low jersey number, and his playing intensity shines through the holes and scrapes and tears. Next, I got it for a solid price. Most importantly, the guy who wore this jersey has enjoyed an impressive life journey.

Bullard played both football and baseball in college, totaling 50 tackles across 11 games for WKU his senior year then turning around and slugging .500 on the diamond the following spring. Even better, he was drafted by the Braves in the 34th round of the 2011 MLB draft. He put up decent numbers for the Rookie-league GCL Braves but his Major League dreams faded. He then joined the Army and looks to be off doing big things. Kudos to him.

When I tear open a bubble mailer to reveal my newest card purchase, the first thing I do is smell the card. Why? Because I’m testing to see if the card smells like cigarettes.

Cigarette smoke ruins sports cards and infects nearby cards as well. If I receive a card that smells like cigarettes, I put the card in my basement to quarantine it until the smell dissipates.

Reminder that you’re free to smoke. It’s your body - do what you like! But it’s not acceptable to sell cards that reek of cigarettes without having a disclaimer upfront.

A recent acquisition to my game-used jersey collection is this one of former Cowboys defensive back and special teams extraordinaire Keith Davis.

Keith had an interesting journey through the pros. He was undrafted out of Sam Houston State and signed with the Cowboys in 2002. A couple years into his pro career, he was shot while picking up a friend at a night club, and although he was an innocent bystander, Coach Parcells had him shipped to Europe to play for the Berlin Thunder. Keith had an amazing season in Europe and helped the Thunder win the 2004 World Bowl. He then came back to the Cowboys and had several productive seasons. Interesting side note: Davis was shot again - completely randomly - while driving to church in the Spring of 2006.

Davis wore this jersey in an October 29, 2006 game against the Panthers. The photo I used to match the jersey (Getty Image 72296494), shows Davis laughing on the sidelines while pushing Tony Romo’s hat down over his eyes. That date is a significant one for Cowboys fans because it’s the day Tony Romo had his first career start, stepping in for an aged Drew Bledsoe and leading the Cowboys to the playoffs.