Shane Vereen

Shane Vereen

Vereen in the 2013 postseason.
No. 34 New York Giants
Position: Running back
Personal information
Date of birth: March 2, 1989
Place of birth: Valencia, California
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight: 205 lb (93 kg)
Career information
High school: Valencia (CA)
College: California
NFL draft: 2011 / Round: 2 / Pick: 56
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of 2014
Rushing yards: 907
Rushing attempts: 217
Rushing TDs: 7
Receiving yards: 1,023
Receptions: 107
Receiving TDs: 7
Stats at NFL.com

Shane Patrick-Henry Vereen (born March 2, 1989) is an American football running back for the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He played college football for the California Golden Bears.

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 60 meters in 6.94 seconds and the 100 meters in 10.66 seconds. He graduated with a 4.0 grade point average.[1]

College career

Vereen in August 2009.

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.[2] 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.[3] In the 2009 Big Game, Vereen rushed a career-high 42 times for 193 yards and three touchdowns, helping Cal upset Stanford 34-28.[4] 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.[5]

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 three and a half years with a degree in Media Studies, Vereen decided to forgo his senior season and declared for the NFL Draft.[6][7]

Vereen (no. 34) running the ball against Colorado in September 2010

College statistics

Rushing

Year Team Games-Games Started Carries Yards Average Long TDs
2008 Cal 13–3 142 715 5.0 81 4
2009 Cal 13–4 183 952 5.2 61 12
2010 Cal 12–12 231 1,167 5.1 59 13
Totals[8][9][10] 38–19 556 2,834 5.1 81 29

Receiving

Year Team Games-Games Started Receptions Yards Average Long TDs
2008 Cal 13–3 27 221 8.2 59 1
2009 Cal 13–4 25 244 9.8 21 2
2010 Cal 12-12 22 209 9.5 31 3
Totals 38–19 74 674 9.2 59 6

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.[11] On November 22, 2012, Thanksgiving night, 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.[12]

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 postseason 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). On February 1, 2015, Vereen caught 11 passes for 64 yards and won Super Bowl XLIX with the Patriots.

New York Giants

On March 10, 2015 Vereen signed with the New York Giants.[13][14]

NFL stats

Rushing stats

Year Team Games Attempts Yards Yards per Carry Longest Carry Touchdowns First Downs Fumbles Fumbles Lost
2011 NE 5 15 57 3.8 19 1 2 0 0
2012 NE 13 62 251 4.0 16 3 15 0 0
2013 NE 8 44 208 4.7 21 1 10 1 0
2014 NE 16 96 391 4.1 19 2 15 0 0
Total Total 42 217 907 4.2 21 7 42 1 0

[15]

Receiving stats

Year Team Games Receptions Targets Yards Yards per Reception Longest Reception Touchdowns First Downs Fumbles Fumbles Lost
2012 NE 13 8 13 149 18.6 83 1 6 1 1
2013 NE 8 47 69 427 9.1 50 3 25 0 0
2014 NE 16 52 77 447 8.6 49 3 24 0 0
Total Total 42 107 159 1023 9.6 83 7 55 1 1

[15]

Personal life

His father, Henry Vereen, was a ninth round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1979 NFL Draft,[1] and played wide receiver in the Canadian Football League for the BC Lions in the early 1980s.[16] Vereen is a first cousin once removed of stage actor and dancer Ben Vereen.[17] Shane's younger brother, Brock Vereen, was a safety on the football team at the University of Minnesota and was drafted in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.[18]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "New England Patriots: Shane Vereen". Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  2. ↑ "Cal-Michigan State Game Notes". University of California. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
  3. ↑ "Vereen, penalty halt Arizona's Rose Bowl aspirations". Associated Press via ESPN.com. November 14, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  4. ↑ "Big Game lives up to hype as Vereen has 3 TDs; late INT sinks Stanford". Associated Press via ESPN.com. November 21, 2009. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Outdoor Track 2008–09 Season Top Outdoor Times and Marks" (PDF). University of California. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
  6. ↑ "Shane Vereen to Declare for NFL Draft". CBS Interactive. 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2011-01-10.
  7. ↑ Osborne, Cary (2011-01-01). "College football: On to the NFL". Santa Clarita Valley Signal. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  8. ↑ Yahoo Player Profile
  9. ↑ Cal Football Stats
  10. ↑ Shane Vereen on CFBStats
  11. ↑ "NFL Game Center". Retrieved 22 November 2011.
  12. ↑ Rodak, Mike. "Vereen's 83-yard TD started the ball rolling". Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  13. ↑ Rosenthal, Gregg (March 11, 2015). "Shane Vereen expected to land with New York Giants". NFL.com. Retrieved March 11, 2015.
  14. ↑ Eisen, Michael (March 11, 2015). "Giants sign RB Shane Vereen; announce Free Agent signings". Giants.com. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Shane Vereen Stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved 15 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "Powerful Lions improve lineup". The Montreal Gazette. June 30, 1984. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  17. ↑ Berry, Zuri (2011-04-29). "Patriots select RB Shane Vereen with the 56th pick". NY Times Co. Retrieved 2011-10-07.
  18. ↑ Brock Vereen - University of Minnesota bio. Retrieved 2013-Aug-27.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Jahvid Best		 Cal Starting Running Back
2009–2010 		Succeeded by
Isi Sofele