Dontaz Dean (right), a 6-7, 222 pound forward from Seward County C.C. in Liberal, Kan., has signed a national letter of intent with Georgia State.

JUCO Junction/Rivalshoops.com has confirmed this commitment with Seward County Asst. Coach Swede Trenkle.

Utah State, Towson and Miami of Ohio were some of the other schools who expressed interest in Dean, but the Baltimore native took just one visit this fall, and that was to Georgia State.

"He obviously wanted to go back further east, which has always been a concern for him," Trenkle said. "He also felt that the level of the program he was going to was awfully high, with their appearance in the NCAA Tournament and what they did last year.

"And the other thing that he mentioned was that he really liked the coaching staff," Trenkle continued. "He really liked them and the players, and those were all factors."

Dean averaged 9.8 points and 6.3 rebounds last season playing alongside fellow Baltimore native Jamal Brown at Seward. With Brown now at TCU, Dean is expected to help fill the void left by the human "double double."

Dean visited Georgia State after the Saints played in a scrimmage at Amarillo, Tex., earlier this fall. Poor weather detoured Dean's official visit to Atlanta by about a half a day, but his trip to Georgia State was obviously a fruitful one.