54 Days Until Iowa Hawkeye Football: Matt Fagan and Dominic Wiseman

Welcome to the beginning our preview of the 2022 Iowa Hawkeyes football season as we take a look at each and every player on the roster counting down the days to kickoff inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, September 3rd. You can find each player preview, as well as the complete current roster on the countdown story stream here.

Next up in the countdown is #54, offensive guard Matt Fagan and defensive lineman Dominic Wiseman.

Matt Fagan – RS Senior
Council Bluffs, IA (St. Albert)
6’5”, 296 lbs
2022 Projection: rotational backup interior lineman

Over the years, we’ve seen a number of feel good stories out of the Iowa program. A lot of them have some common themes. A former walk on puts in the work, becomes a contributor and earns a scholarship. A fifth year senior finally gets his chance after being a great teammate for four years and makes the most of it.

Council Bluffs native Matt Fagan has the potential to hit on all points. The St. Albert product opted to walk on at Iowa back in 2018 despite receiving offers from FCS programs. He took a redshirt in 2018 and packed on ~20 pounds as he developed into a Big Ten offensive guard.

His next two seasons on campus, Fagan bought his time. He didn’t see any game reps in 2019 or 2020, but came ready to work in 2021. As a redshirt junior, Fagan saw action in a trio of games, largely early in the season. That included wins over Indiana, Kent State and Maryland.

Coming into the 2022 season, Fagan departs spring practice listed as the backup to Tyler Elsbury at center. He’s also on scholarship for the first time in his career. Clearly, the staff thinks Fagan could be a contributor in 2022. The question becomes whether younger players such as Logan Jones or Michael Myslinski can pass him up in the fall and whether Fagan will stay exclusively at center.

Dominic Wiseman– Freshman
Davenport, IA (North)
5’11”, 274 lbs
2022 Projection: redshirt

Like Fagan, fellow #54 Dominic Wiseman is a home grown Hawkeye who is walking on at Iowa despite several FCS offers. To that end, Wiseman was a 3-star prospect according to 247 Sports and a 2-star per Rivals.

Despite that, the Davenport North product ends up walking on for the Hawkeyes with a history of taking prospects who have talent but are a bit undersized and developing them into contributors. Wiseman appears to fit that bill. He’s a bit undersized at 5’11” per the official roster (he was listed at 6’1”on recruiting profiles) but comes in at 274 pounds as a defensive tackle.

He’s got good explosion and burst off the line which helps to provide a solid punch. He doesn’t have terribly long arms for the position, but he’s strong and quick enough to shoot gaps and make plays on the interior.

Look for Wiseman to follow the path of so many before him and take a redshirt in this his first season in Iowa City before spending a year or two continuing to learn and develop under Kelvin Bell and Phil Parker. He projects as a reserve as an underclassmen, but someone who could become a rotational contributor as an upperclassman.