DJ King is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism Student assigned to cover Highland High School for AZPreps365.com.

An excitement reverberates through the entire Highland track and field team during practice. Everyone is energized, and the buzz is palpable as everyone goes about their different training exercises.

“I’m just really excited to get going on all these meets, and it’s going to be super fun,” senior long distance runner Brady Moar said during one such practice on Wednesday.

Standing in the middle of it all is a muscular man with a beard and an arm-sleeve tattoo peering out of his sunglasses. 

Jacob Rutter, only 29, is in his first year as Highland’s track and field coach as well as serving as the Hawks' defensive coordinator for football. Despite his youth, Rutter already brings with him an impressive resume.

Rutter was a football player at Basha and Valley Christian in high school, and calls himself a “Chandler kid.” After playing Division II college football at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma and spending some time abroad, he realized he wanted to return to Arizona to make an impact on the community he grew up in.

“I just kind of knew I wanted to come back in some way, at some capacity,” he said.

So in 2021, Rutter accepted the head track and field coach position at Arizona College Prep High School. The school has consistently enrolled around 2,000 students, but in 2019, only 29 of them were on the track and field team. In Rutter’s final year with the team, 2024, that number had exploded to 167. On top of growing the program exponentially, he also helped Arizona College Prep win its first trophy in any track and field event, with the girls 4x100 sprint team winning the Division III title.

Then Highland came calling.

Track and field head coach Abraham Johnson was stepping down to focus on family, and Hawks’ defensive coordinator Jason Lyons had left to take a new head coaching opportunity at Eastmark. It was everything Rutter could want, as it gave him the opportunity to continue his track and field work, while also becoming a top assistant in football.

“It kind of was the perfect storm… both jobs that I wanted to do opened up at the same time,” he said.

He also now competes against some of his old friends, also local track and field and football coaches, in what has become a full circle moment for him.

“I get to see old teammates and old familiar faces, and that’s been a real joy,” he said.

So what is it that he brings that makes his approach unique? According to senior sprinter Gabriella Taylor, a big part of it is the way he approaches practices.

“He’s very smart, there’s always a plan to what he’s doing.  I think he’s been executing [it] really well,” she said. 

Rutter said he lets three main philosophies drive what he does as a coach: keeping a positive attitude, competing as hard as possible and playing as a team. 

Playing as a team is not typically something that is emphasized in track and field, as individual accolades and achievements can often overshadow the team aspect. Rutter said that shift in focus helps create a better atmosphere for athletes in which they can thrive.

“Team relays, team environment,  team camp… bonding over those shared experiences makes everybody better and makes everybody want to be here.”

The excitement has already been validated to begin the year, as the girls team won the Richard Thompson South Mountain Classic behind a dominant performance by Taylor, and the boys distance medley relay team broke a decade-old school record in the Rampage Invitational.

“I’m super, super excited to see what we can do, and I think we can win it this year,” Taylor said.

Taylor was a member of Highland’s 2023 open champions girls track and field team as a sophomore, but she still posited it’s “the best she’s ever felt.”

“They’re ready to perform and be successful,” Rutter said.

Thanks to his presence, successful could mean a repeat of that 2023 glory.