I mean, you're wrong, on some of these at least. We went up against some of the biggest transfer names for Spencer. He visited Miami (coming off Final Four with success with transfers like Omier and Pack) who had Life Wallet NIL money. We knew we had a hole at the 2 and he was absolutely penciled in to be a starter from Day 1.
Newton also was penciled in to start. There was some internal questioning about whether Jackson would play PG and Newton play more of a combo role, but that's it. He was always thought to be in the starting lineup (though Diarra pushed him in practice because Diarra is more Hurley's "style" of player and brought more intensity in the workouts). He was coveted, though the transfer portal wasn't as en vogue when he came out and we had the inside track from our AAC days so he only visited us. He was All-Conference AAC with multiple years remaining. People wanted him.
As you say, Cole wasn't brought in to start, but that's because he had to sit out a year. Martin was more "in the mix" because he needed to get a waiver or he wouldn't have been immediately eligible. He won the job early on, he was starting game 2 he played for us.