Head coach Pat Fitzgerald is nothing if not relentlessly positive.

Yes, his Wildcats suffered two high-profile national signing day losses on Wednesday, when a quarterback and wide receiver both decided to go elsewhere.

But he’s not worried about the players he didn’t land. He’s focused on the players who signed with Northwestern.

And, like a kid on Christmas morning, he likes his new toys.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic about the 16 guys we signed,” said Fitzgerald via videoconference from his office at the Walter Athletics Center. “It’s not the ones that you don’t get, it’s the ones that you take that are critically important.”

In Fitzgerald’s mind, “this group of 16 is as good as we’ve ever had.”

Especially, he said, on the line of scrimmage. “I think this is a really talented group. It starts up front. That group of big guys is absolutely phenomenal.”

That’s the real story to Fitzgerald because, as he put it, “You’ve got to win in the Big Ten upfront, man.”

Here are five takeaways from what Fitzgerald had to say about his newly minted Wildcats: