Before the Illinois State University football team made a Cinderella run to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision title game, Lincoln senior lineman Zach Poole was already pleased with his choice.
“After I made that decision, I never had a single amount of regret,” Poole said. “I thought, I felt like this was the right one; the right decision for me and my family.”
Lincoln High School’s Zach Poole Thursday, August 7, 2025.
Poole, along with his parents Troy and Jennifer, spent countless hours going to and from college campus to college campus and back to their Logan County home for more than a year. Poole used that time not just to better his body and his game for college ball, but learning what traits he wanted from a program for his next venture.
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He found it in Illinois State, then eagerly watched the Redbirds — his future team — roll past Southeastern Louisiana in the first round of the FCS playoffs before shocking just about everyone by upsetting No. 1-ranked North Dakota State 29-28 on Dec. 6. After a quarterfinal win over No. 8 California Davis (42-31), the Redbirds took down No. 12 Villanova 30-14 to reach the FCS title game.
On Monday, ISU overcame a 14-point deficit to force overtime before losing 35-34 to No. 2 Montana State.
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“I think the ultimate reason why I chose ISU was the bond with the guys sharing the (offensive line) Illinois State,” Poole said. “I was lucky enough. I took two visits there during the spring where they gave recruits an even more in-depth look into their program. They let us sit in on position meetings before the spring practice visit started. I got to watch film with them and see how they were getting critiqued.
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“I’ve got a couple of buddies of mine that are in the o-line room there, so they showed me some of their notes and everything. Getting to learn from (ISU offensive line coach Harold Etheridge) and that the bond they share is nothing like I’ve ever seen before. And I’m like, ‘Man, those are my kind of people.’ They all have my personality where I was like, “That’s the one.’”
Poole is going to join the ISU football team as a preferred walk-on. The 6-foot-6, 330-pound Poole helped his Railsplitters’ football team end a 39-year playoff drought as a sophomore. As a senior, he had 58 pancake blocks in nine games.
Lincoln’s Zach Poole blocks against Jacksonville during a football game at Kraushaar-Rosenberger Field on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025.
With three different state champions in the Central State Eight Conference — Chatham Glenwood in 1998, Sacred Heart-Griffin (a six-time champion) and Rochester (a nine-time state champ) — Poole understood the difficulties of playing against some of the best teams in the state. At ISU, things only get more difficult in the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
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“(ISU football coach Brock Spack) calls (the MVFC) the SEC of FCS,” Poole said.
At ISU, Poole plans to major in athletic training and minor in athletic coaching.
In August, Lincoln coach Matt Silkowski said wherever Poole landed, he wanted just one thing: to be the best he could.
More: Lincoln turns to 2006 alum as next football coach
“He definitely has goals and he knows what he needs to do to achieve them,” said Silkowski, who stepped down after the season for a move out of state. “He’s not afraid to work to get to that goal and get to the highest level that he can in this game.”
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Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Lincoln’s Zach Poole earned preferred walk-on for ISU Redbirds
