CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
• Purdue’s 13th two-time All-American
• 2025 NCAA Runner-Up (157 lbs.)
• 2026 NCAA Sixth Place (165 lbs.)
• Purdue’s youngest national finalist since at least 1950
• One of three Purdue wrestlers all time to earn All-America status at multiple weights
• Three-time NCAA Championships qualifier (2024, 2025, 2026)
• Three-time Big Ten placewinner (sixth in 2024, third in 2025 & 2026)
• 2025 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational champion (165 lbs.)
• Holds a 31-0 career record in bonus point matches entering 2026-27
• Collegiate record of 66-22 (.750) entering 2026-27, currently the 13th best winning percentage in program history
• Big Ten Wrestler of the Week (Dec. 11, 2025)
• Placed third at 2025 Senior World Team Trials (74 kg), ultimately finishing fourth in the national freestyle circuit at age 20
• Won gold at the 2025 Waclaw Ziolkowski Memorial tournament in Warsaw, Poland, representing Team USA (74 kg)
• Three-time NWCA Scholar All-American (2024, 2025, 2026)
• Two-time Academic All-Big Ten (2025 & 2026)
• 2025 CSC Academic All-District
• Team award winner: Outstanding Wrestler (2025 & 2026), Most Dominant (2026), Freshman of the Year (2024), Most Dedicated (2024)
• Purdue Wrestling All-Quarter Century Team (157 lbs)
| Season | W-L (pct.) | Duals | Big Ten | MD | TF | Pins |
| 2023-24 (Fr. - 157) | 17-12 (.586) | 9-4 | 6-8 | 2-0 | 4-0 | 3-0 |
| 2024-25 (So. - 157) | 24-6 (.800) | 10-1 | 13-4 | 6-0 | 4-0 | 1-0 |
| 2025-26 (Jr. - 165) | 25-4 (.862) | 13-0 | 10-3 | 4-0 | 7-0 | 0-0 |
| Career | 66-22 (.750) | 32-5 | 29-15 | 12-0 | 15-0 | 4-0 |
2025-26 / AS A JUNIOR
• Stats
• Placed sixth at the NCAA Championships (165 lbs.) after advancing to the national semifinals for the second straight season
• Became Purdue’s 13th multiple-time All-American
• 2025 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational champion (165 lbs.), the eighth in Purdue history
• Became the third Boilermaker to earn All-America status at multiple weights, joining Chris Fleeger (2002, ’03, ’06) and Bob Marshall (1960, ’61)
• Was the first Purdue wrestler to make the national semifinals in consecutive years since Fleeger (2002-03)
• Posted the fourth undefeated regular season in recorded program history, going 18-0 without surrendering a single takedown
• Finished the season 25-4 (.862), the 16th best season win percentage in Purdue history
• Won a second consecutive Big Ten bronze medal at the conference championships, going 4-1
• Went 11-0 in bonus point matches to maintain a perfect college record in bonus bouts (31-0 entering 2026-27)
• Team leader in wins (25), ranked wins (14), dual wins (13), Big Ten wins (10), technical falls (seven), match points scored (269), match point differential (198), dual points (53), times scored first (22), second period points (83), third period points (83), reversals (eight) and riding time differential (+25:15)
• Ranked in the top-four nationally at his weight by every major publication throughout the entire season, rising as high as No. 2 in March
• Climbed to No. 9 in FloWrestling’s pound-for-pound national rankings
• Held the No. 2 seed at the NCAA Championships, just the fourth Boilermaker since 1963 to earn a top-two seed
• Went 14-4 in matches against ranked opponents, earning wins over the then-No. 3, No. 7, No. 8 (three times), No. 10, No. 11, No. 15 (twice), No. 16, No. 17, No. 19, No. 24 and No. 31 wrestlers in the country
• Registered a season takedown ratio of 62-3 and back point ratio of 28-0
• Became a three-time NWCA Scholar All-American
• Became a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, part of the new program record total of 17 Boilermakers to take home the honor
• Made his Real American Freestyle debut at RAF 08 against three-time NCAA champion Jason Nolf in April 2026
2024-25 / AS A SOPHOMORE
• Stats
• Finished as NCAA Runner-Up (157 lbs.) in his breakout season, Purdue’s youngest national finalist since at least 1950 (Charles Moreno)
• Became Purdue’s 62nd All-American and the school’s first true sophomore All-American since 1994 (Tony Vaughn)
• Key contributor to Purdue’s best finish (13th/66) at the NCAA Championships since 1992
• Won the bronze medal at Big Ten Championships, Purdue’s first true sophomore to finish top-three in the conference since 1992 (Larock Benford)
• Led the team in Big Ten wins (13), top-10 wins (5), decisions (13), overtime wins (3), third-period points (82), overtime points (7) and riding time points (14)
• Defeated consensus No. 1 and top-seeded Tyler Kasak (Penn State) for a massive upset in the NCAA quarterfinals, a 5-4 decision
• His win was Purdue’s first over a No. 1 seed since Matt Ramos famously pinned three-time national champion Spencer Lee in the 2023 NCAA semifinals
• Recorded 14 ranked wins over then-No. 1, No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 8, No. 16, No. 17, No. 19, No. 24, No. 25, No. 28, No. 30 and No. 31 (twice), highlighted by victories over top-ranked Kasak and the eventual NCAA champion, Antrell Taylor (Nebraska)
• Was the lowest-seeded NCAA finalist (No. 8) and one of just two finalists outside the top four seeds
• Purdue's first true sophomore seeded in the top 10 at NCAAs since 1992 (Larock Benford, No. 8, HWT)
• Posted an 11-0 record in bonus point matches
• Surrendered a team-low 2.7 opponent points per match
• Forced a team-best 30 opponent stall warnings and scored a team-high 12 penalty points
• Finished second on the team behind Ramos in wins (24), ranked wins (14), Big Ten dual wins (5) and point differential (+167)
• Took sixth place at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite, Purdue’s first true sophomore to climb the podium in Vegas since Gerrit Nijenhuis in 2021
• Placed second at the Tiger Style Invite
• Picked up his first top-10 win of the season over No. 5 Peyten Kellar (Ohio), shutting him out 2-0 in an upset at CKLV
• Registered a 57-8 takedown ratio
• Outscored opponents 247-80
• Began the season ranked No. 18 by InterMat and finished No. 4 in the final coaches’ rankings
• Recorded seven takedowns against Kevin Schork in the dual vs. Maryland, the most by a Boilermaker in a single match since Feb. 5, 2023
• Matched the highest point total (21) by a Boilermaker all season in his match against Schork
• Earned NWCA Scholar All-American status for the second time
• Named Academic All-Big Ten as part of a program record tally of 15 Boilermakers to receive the honor in 2025
• Recognized as a 2024-25 Academic All-District selection by College Sports Communicators and a finalist for Academic All-America honors
• Won the Purdue Athletics Golden Pete Award for Male Groundbreaking Performance
• Won Purdue's Outstanding Wrestler award at the team awards banquet
• Placed third at Senior World Team Trials as the No. 7 seed (74 kg), earning four wins against wrestlers with nine combined All-America honors
• Wrestled at Final X with the opportunity to become Purdue's first-ever member of the U.S. Senior National Team, coming up one win short at age 20
• Represented the United States in the July 2025 senior-level USA-Russia dual in Budapest and went the distance with Magoma Dibirgadzhiev, the No. 10 wrestler in the world (74 kg)
• Won gold at the 2025 Waclaw Ziolkowski Memorial tournament in Warsaw, Poland, representing Team USA (74 kg)
2023-24 / AS A FRESHMAN
• Stats
• Racked up a 17-12 record in his true freshman season, earning nine bonus point wins without surrendering one himself. He also won six matches against ranked opposition
• Earned an auto-bid to the NCAA Championships as the No. 23 seed, the fourth highest ever for a Purdue true freshman. Went 0-2 with both matches going to overtime
• In qualifying alongside teammate Greyson Clark, the duo became only the third pair of true freshmen Boilermakers to make the NCAA tournament. Previously happened in 2021 and 1947. The duo were 2-of-9 Big Ten true freshman to qualify for the national tournament
• Took sixth place in his first Big Ten tournament appearance. He is just the 16th Boilermaker true freshman to earn a spot on the conference podium
• Made a big splash early by knocking off No. 5 Ed Scott of N.C. State in sudden victory in just his second collegiate competition. He was the first unranked Boiler to beat a top-5 opponent since Griffin Parriott in 2018
• Also the first true freshman under Ersland to earn three top-five upsets, pinning Nebraska’s No. 3 Peyton Robb and receiving a victory via injury default over Minnesota’s No. 4 Michael Blockhus
• Finished the regular season tied for the most dual wins of any true freshman in the Big Ten with nine
• Led the team in a number of categories by the end of the year including non-conference dual wins (6), tech falls (4), overtime wins (3), and overtime points (10)
• Ranked as high as No. 15 by Intermat
• Earned two Purdue Wrestling team awards as he was named Freshman of the Year and Most Dedicated
• Named an NWCA Scholar All-American
HIGH SCHOOL
• Three-time Ohio state champion, claiming titles in 2021 (138), 2022 (145) and 2023 (165)
• Led Perrysburg High School to second-place team finishes at the 2022 and 2023 Ohio high school state championships
• Named the 2023 OHSWCA Wrestler of the Year
• Ohio's winner for the 2023 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award
• Took first place at the 2022 Super 32, downing the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds with third period comebacks
• Placed second at the 2022 USA Wrestling Central Regional Freestyle Championships, medically forfeiting in the finals
• Won the OHSAA D1 District championship each of the last three seasons
• Claimed first at the OHSAA D1 Sectional tournament four years in a row
• Placed eighth at the 2021 Super 32
• Varsity Record: 184-7 (Perrysburg record)
NATIONAL RANKINGS
• Finished as the No. 15 pound-for-pound wrestler in the country via MatScouts
• Ranked as the No. 17 overall recruit by MatScouts
• The No. 1 recruit in his weight class according to both MatScouts and FloWrestling
• Tabbed No. 18 in the class on FloWrestling’s Big Board
• Named the best prospect in the class from Ohio by MatScouts and FloWrestling
PERSONAL
• Burnett Trained Wrestling Club
• Major: Selling & Sales Management
• Height: 5'11
• Hometown: Perrysburg, Ohio
• Son of Joseph and Addie Blaze
• Has one brother, Marcus, and one sister, Payton
• His little brother, Marcus, wrestles at Penn State
• Instagram: @_joey_blaze_
• X/Twitter: @joeyblaze18
• Manages his own apparel brand, Blaze Apparel
• Aspires to one day be an Olympic wrestler and professional MMA fighter