Blaze a new path

Former Olympus High and University Utah football player Doug Kaufusi welcomed the opportunity this week to reintroduce his skills to football fans who remember him from his playing days with the Utes.

Kaufusi, who graduated from Olympus in 1994, is among several players with local ties trying to continue their football careers with the Utah Blaze.

The lineman is very excited to still be playing football, especially in front of the local fans.

"I don't know what I would do without this sport," he said. "This is my hometown, and I'm just happy to be playing here."

After being waived by the San Diego Chargers, Kaufusi went to NFL Europe to develop his game. Now, he's a rookie trying to learn arena football.

"It's a lot more than what I expected," he said. "The game is faster — a lot faster."

Bringing in local players wasn't the top priority for the expansion team. Head coach Danny White says that winning is. White wants the team's first concern to be finding the best players possible to help the team win right away.

"It's important, but it's more important to win," he said.

Blaze quarterback Joe Germaine has a slightly different take. The former Ohio State Buckeye thinks the Blaze can benefit from the state's Division I schools.

"We wouldn't bring in players just because they played here, but I think it could be a great advantage to have three major universities so close," he said.

Germaine actually played with Kurt Warner in St. Louis for a short time. Warner's story is well known and, in some respects, keeps players' hopes alive. Warner, a former arena football player, led the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl win in the 1999 season.

Germaine believes in his abilities, but over the last couple of years, his dreams of returning to the NFL have faded.

"I don't know if I'll ever get that call again," he said.

Germaine thinks that he can do more as a quarterback in the offensive-driven Arena Football League. Last year, Germaine started six games for Arizona and threw 40 touchdowns to only seven interceptions.

With last week's "fanfest" at the Delta Center, the Blaze had a chance to conduct a meet-and-greet with season-ticket holders and curious fans. Coach White and the players signed autographs, posed for pictures and talked about what to expect from arena football.

"I think they'll love everything about the game," White said. "The number of collisions we have — it's concentrated football."

The preseason roster will be trimmed down from 39 players to 27 before the team's first game on Jan. 28.

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E-mail: tpeterson@desnews.com