Shane Vereen Shane Patrick - Henry Vereen ( born March 2 , 1989 ) is an American football running back for the New England Patriots of the National Football League ( NFL ) . He was drafted 56th overall in the 2011 NFL Draft . He played college football for the University of California , Berkeley . Early years . Vereen was born in Valencia , California , where he attended Valencia High School . A three year varsity football player , Vereen also played basketball and was a top sprinter in his region , running the 100 - meter dash in 10 . 61 seconds and the 200 - meter race in 21 . 46 seconds . He graduated with a 4 . 0 grade point average . His father , Henry Vereen , was a ninth round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1979 NFL Draft , and played wide receiver in the Canadian Football League for the BC Lions in the early 1980s . Vereen is a first cousin once removed of stage actor and dancer Ben Vereen . College career . After being recruited to play for California , Vereen redshirted for the 2007 season . In 2008 , he served as the primary backup to Jahvid Best as part of Cal ' s two running back system , playing in all of the team ' s 13 games . In the season opener against Michigan State , he rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown . The game marked the first time that two Cal running backs had completed over 100 yards rushing since the 2006 Holiday Bowl , with Best tallying 111 yards in the victory . For the season , he rushed for 715 yards and 4 touchdowns , along with 27 catches for 221 yards and a touchdown . After Jahvid Best suffered a severe concussion versus Oregon State , Vereen took over the job of primary running back for the final four games of the 2009 season . In the 2009 Big Game , Vereen rushed a career - high 42 times for 193 yards and three touchdowns , helping Cal upset Stanford 34 - 28 . For the season , Vereen rushed for 952 yards and 12 touchdowns , along with 25 receptions for 244 yards and two touchdowns . He also competed on the track team during the 2009 season in the 100 metres . In the 2010 season opener against UC Davis on September 4 , Vereen had 67 rushing yards for two touchdowns , with a third receiving in a 52 – 3 blowout victory . He followed this up with 60 rushing yards and one score as well as a receiving touchdown the following week against Colorado . On September 17 he had a career - high 198 rushing yards and three touchdowns as Cal fell to Nevada in Reno , and 102 rushing yards while being kept out of the end zone in a narrow loss to Arizona on September 25 . On October 9 , Vereen had a 151 yard rushing performance with two touchdowns against UCLA . He finished the season with 1 , 167 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns to go with 22 catches for 209 yards and three touchdowns . After graduating in December 2010 in just three and a half years with a degree in Media Studies , Vereen decided to forgo his senior season and declared for the NFL Draft . Professional career . New England Patriots . Vereen was selected by the New England Patriots in the 2nd round of the 2011 NFL Draft with the 56th overall pick . He was signed to a four year contract by the Patriots on August 1 , 2011 . On November 21 , Vereen scored his first career NFL touchdown on a four yard run in a 34 - 3 win over the Kansas City Chiefs . On Thanksgiving November 22 , 2012 , Vereen caught an 83 yard touchdown reception in a 49 - 19 rout of the New York Jets . The catch is currently the longest of his career . In the Patriots ' first game of the 2012 NFL Playoffs , against the Houston Texans , Vereen had a career day : he had five receptions for 83 yards , scoring touchdowns on two of them . He also added a third touchdown on one of his 7 rushes for 41 yards . Vereen became only the second player in Patriots potseason history to score both a rushing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in the same postseason game ( Deion Branch is the other ) . In addition , he became only the third player in NFL history to score two receiving touchdowns and one rushing touchdown in a postseason game ( Roger Craig and Ricky Watters are the others ) .