Thank you, Nebraska athletic department officials, for essentially barring media from covering summer football camps for high school players this year.

Thank you for saving me from myself.

Pardon me for this burst of self-loathing. While my media brethren typically exercised admirable restraint when covering the high-profile recruits attending these summer camps, I often was sucked in by rampant hyperbole emanating from recruiting Web sites, especially as it applies to high-profile quarterbacks.

I would suddenly morph into the Don King of QB recruiting.

If not for Nebraska officials turning away media this summer (citing NCAA rules), I no doubt would’ve attended the Huskers’ elite quarterback camp (which ended Tuesday) and portrayed blue-chip prospect Cody Green as the next Donovan McNabb.

In this regard, I have a somewhat suspect past:

* Harrison Beck. It was the summer of 2004. Beck was Nebraska’s white-hot QB recruit that was expected to show everyone how to prosper in Bill Callahan’s West Coast offense. I read every word about Beck on those recruiting Web sites. I was sucked in big-time. I drove to a Lincoln hotel one terrific June day and interviewed the kid as if I were Morley Safer breaking some sort of big story. Beck was in town at the time for the Huskers’ QB camp. The Florida native ended up suddenly bolting from Lincoln in August of 2006 having completed 1 of 10 passes in two games the previous season.

(A Beck update: He started three games last season as a redshirted sophomore at North Carolina State before injuring his shoulder. He finished with two touchdown passes and nine interceptions. His stepfather recently shut down Beck’s personal Web site citing Harrison’s desire to limit distractions and focus on winning the starting job in 2008.)

* Blaine Gabbert. I actually drove with a colleague last summer to Columbia, Mo., for a camp in which Gabbert participated. After the camp, I hunkered down in a hotel and wrote about the quarterback as if he were the next John Elway. I was convinced of it (I’m still somewhat convinced of it, actually, although you’re advised to ignore anything I say or write about recruiting). At 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds, Gabbert’s a specimen. At the time of the camp, he was planning to attend Nebraska. Of course, he eventually changed his mind and signed with Missouri. I still feel like a buffoon for making that road trip.

* Josh Freeman. Ah, yes, we all know the Josh-Freeman-spurns-Callahan-in-favor-of-Ron-Prince story. In 2005, Freeman was the big gun at Nebraska’s quarterback academy. I don’t remember any specific examples of embarrassing myself while covering the Freeman story. But I’m certain I made a fool of myself at some point. I’m certain I wrote far too much about him. I’m certain I called his cell phone at least three times — which is three times too many. After all, I’m 40! I’m a man!

So, perhaps I’ve learned my lesson. Perhaps I won’t be so quick to portray a high school QB as a savior of any sort.

Maybe I won’t get carried away every time I watch highlight video of Green — the Nebraska dual-threat quarterback recruit from Dayton, Texas — galloping through waves of defenders. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Green told me Tuesday he has narrowed his list of choices to Nebraska, Texas A&M and Alabama. He expects to decide within a month. He said he had a great time at NU’s QB camp. He especially enjoyed the feeling he got from the “atmosphere surrounding the program and the coaches,” specifically offensive coordinator Shawn Watson (yes, I called the kid on his cell, but only once, I swear).

Green reportedly runs the 40 in 4.6 seconds, but it’s not like I pay attention to such minutiae.

He reportedly has a vertical leap of 33 inches, as if anyone really keeps track.

According to various recruiting gurus, Nebraska also has locked in on a handful of other quarterback prospects, including Ryan Mossakowski (6-4, 201, Frisco, Texas) and Nathan Scheelhaase (6-3, 184, Kansas City, Mo.) — not that I follow this recruiting malarkey all that closely anymore.

Trust me, it means absolutely nothing to me when I hear Mossakowski has an absolute cannon for an arm.

After watching Scheelhaase on video, I can look you dead in the eye and tell you that I hardly noticed him faking a pitch and sprinting into open field during a precisely executed option left. He reminded me of Jamelle Holieway, only Scheelhaase is a lot bigger and stronger — did I just say that?

Not that I’m paying much attention.

Perhaps I also should thank Bo Pelini for my new and improved approach to covering recruiting. Pelini obviously doesn’t get caught up in recruiting hype. He takes recruiting services such as Rivals.com and Scout.com with a grain of salt. Recruiting “insiders” will tell you Callahan and company leaned awfully hard on such services and the hype they dish out. Maybe I’m among thousands of people who learned lessons the hard way these past four years.

I bit awfully hard on the hype. Guilty as charged.

Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.