MORGANTOWN - Five years after the fact, there aren't a lot of coaches who can give a sensible explanation - or at least one that will satisfy a fan base - for why they didn't recruit Pat White with the fervor reserved for the best of the best high school football players.

Oh, sure, there's the argument that recruiting is not an exact science, and that what White has managed to accomplish as a quarterback at West Virginia is somewhat of a surprise. No one wants to hear that, though, because top-flight coaches are supposed to recognize the kind of potential that White had.

Particularly top-flight coaches in White's home state of Alabama.

It's hard to fault Auburn's Tommy Tuberville, though, because when he rationalizes his failure to aggressively pursue a future All-America candidate who lived just across the state, he actually makes sense.

White didn't fit into what Auburn was doing with its offense at the time, and to recruit him at another position would have been to take a chance on losing him to another sport.

"We looked at him and there was a lot of talk about him possibly playing professional baseball,'' Tuberville said. "We looked at him and he wanted to be a quarterback, so he decided to go to West Virginia.''

Not that the Tigers didn't at least try, mind you. They did for a while, as did Alabama.

The truth is, though, that neither had a chance because White had no interest. Despite growing up in the middle of the 24/7/365 war that is Alabama vs. Auburn - or perhaps because of it - he was determined to escape.

"I wasn't a fan,'' White said. "Never been a fan, never will be a fan.

 "They did recruit me, Auburn and Alabama both. Was it heavy? I didn't let it get heavy. I told both early that I wasn't interested. I knew I wasn't going to either or.''

This week, of course, White will be squarely in Auburn's sights, not as a potential recruit but as an opponent. The Tigers (4-3) face West Virginia (4-2) Thursday night at a sold-out Mountaineer Field and in front of a national audience on ESPN.

And that's as close to being in the middle of Alabama college football as White wants to be.

"It's easy,'' White said when asked why he never got wrapped up in the college football rivalry that almost defines his home state, at least on Saturdays in the fall. "It's the same way people grow up in Atlanta and are anti-Braves or something. I just never was a fan.''

White grudgingly admits that facing Auburn holds at least some special interest for him, simply because it is the first and last time he will play a team from his home state.

"It's a home-state school and I grew up hearing about it almost every day, whether it was baseball, basketball or football season,'' White said.

But while virtually all his friends back home in Daphne, a suburb of Mobile some 220 miles from Auburn, grew up taking sides in Alabama-Auburn, White was content to go in a different direction. He preferred to direct his interest in college football toward the smaller, historically black colleges in the Deep South.

"I grew up watching Alabama State, Tuskegee and Southern, Grambling,'' White said. "Not Alabama and Auburn.''

He knows he was in the minority.

"They live it,'' White said. "It's a lifestyle for them. You either love Alabama and hate Auburn or vice versa. That's how it goes. I just didn't like them. I don't know what it was. I wasn't a fan.''

Of course, White wasn't a fan of West Virginia, either, until the Mountaineers agreed to give him a chance to play quarterback, which was something most other schools weren't willing to do.

In retrospect, it was certainly the best decision for White, who instead of becoming a wide receiver or something else at a school in the South quickly blossomed into a two-time Big East offensive player of the year at West Virginia.

And, while he may have missed the chance to become a part of Alabama-Auburn lore, getting a chance to play Auburn on a Thursday night here is pretty special, too.

"Special things happen on Thursday nights in Morgantown,'' White said. "I don't know if it's because it's party night in Morgantown or just because it's football night. We'll see what happens this Thursday night.''

Reach Dave Hickman at 348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.