Spurrier could elevate his QBs no matter where they started out.
This too is kind of an old wives tale.
Matthews was Mr Football in Mississippi and surely would have been at least a 4*today, and not a 4* who was a project like say Giraffe or Dipshyt who just had cannons and nothing else. The skills were all there with Matthews.
Wierffel was all state and state champion in his class. Kresser was all state. (I forget which one was which class 5 and class 4.) Dean was highly recruited but I forget the specifics.
DJ was all state but went baseball first. He was sort of Driskel lite Big arm, not always accurate and kinda dumb. Not Dipshyt dumb, but not smart either and trouble remaining composed. And sober.
Palmer was the only guy who was a total wildcard. He was kind of like a Kyle Trash, a kid who didnt even have football in HS, only a club team, though he did start at least, and who was the guy signed to be third string. He was supposed to be behind Sabelhaus and Olmstead. Those guys didnt developmat all despite being #1 QB in each class per the magazines, which showed the danger of signing out of state players who didnt play good competition.
Berlin played ok in limited time. he too was the number one quarterback in the class for the magazines. Grossman was also all state in Indiana. He was certainly not a no name, even though he apparently had to recruit us as we were not recruiting him at all.
If you land that much elite talent, it certainly helps you look good.
Since 2007 or so UF has landed very few quarterbacks that Spurrier would have even looked at much less signed.