The Tennessee Vols lost a longtime four-star commit on Wednesday, but it’s not the “bad news” that some fans and media outlets are making it out to be.

2027 four-star defensive lineman Kadin Fife had been committed to the Vols since last November before officially decommitting on Wednesday.

Fife, 6-foot-5/290 pounds from Centre, AL, is rated in 247Sports’ composite rankings as the No. 40 defensive lineman in the nation and the No. 18 player in the state of Alabama.

Kadin Fife and Tennessee had been trending toward a breakup for months

There have been rumblings for the last several months that Fife and the Vols were heading toward a separation.

And that was seemingly sealed when Tennessee landed a commitment from junior college defensive lineman Christian Mays earlier this month.

Tennessee knew that if they took a commitment from Mays that it would push Fife out the door, so this tells us that they liked their evaluation of Mays better than their evaluation of Fife.

“He’s a quick twitch guy who’s got some length to him,” said VolQuest’s Brent Hubbs earlier this month on WNML’s SportsTalk when asked about Mays. “He’s a bit raw, and he hasn’t played a ton of football. He’s got a good story in terms of just kind of fighting his way through and developing and becoming a player through the junior college ranks. And this is a classic (Vols DL coach) Rodney Garner fit is what it feels like.”

Tennessee obviously liked Fife or they wouldn’t have taken his commitment in the first place, but the Vols aren’t going to push to keep players they don’t believe will help them early.

Mays simply ended up being a better fit for the Vols, so Tennessee was okay with letting Fife walk. This wasn’t “bad news,” this was expected news. And the Vols were more than okay with it.