Joe Blaze was a hometown hero on his high school football team in Augusta, Georgia. Blaze's football career started off at quarterback, where he led his high school team to a state championship in back to back years. It wasn't until he played football in college at Kent State University where he changed positions to the defensive side of the ball. Initially, he had joined as the backup quarterback but after some key injuries, the team needed him at the safety position. The switch wasn't easy by any means, but his experience at quarterback made it much easier for him to read offenses and gave him a knack for understanding where the opposing team wanted to go with the ball. Blaze ended up having a historic season with Kent State University in his final year before declaring for the DSFL draft where he went 4th overall to the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Once on the Ducks, Blaze made his third position swap to Linebacker, where in his first year he was honored with Defensive Player of the Year.