A dad first Peterson reconnects with his son

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Adrian Peterson and his wife, Ashley Brown Peterson, leave the courthouse in Texas with his attorney, Rusty Hardin, on Oct. 8.

(Photo: David J. Phillip, AP)

It had been five months since Adrian Peterson spoke to his 4-year-old son.

Somewhere deep inside, Peterson believes he knew what awaited him on the other end of the line. But he couldn't be sure until he placed the call last week.

"When he got on the phone, he said, 'Hey Dad,'" Peterson said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. "I was like, 'Hey buddy, how you doing?' 'I'm doing OK.' I was like, 'I love you.' He was like, 'I love you, too, Dad. Can I come over to your house?' "

Peterson hopes he'll get to see his son in the coming weeks – the end of a tumultuous period in both their lives, and what Peterson hopes will be a new beginning for him as a parent.

Adrian Peterson the football player will be back one day. He's sure of it, even after the NFL suspended the Minnesota Vikings' star running back Tuesday for at least the rest of the 2014 season after his no-contest plea to a misdemeanor reckless assault charge.

Peterson had expressed remorse for injuring his son and maintained he was disciplining him – with a "switch" from a tree – the way he was disciplined as a child. If Peterson meets the court's requirements, no conviction will go on his record. But Peterson, a father of six children by six women, knows he faces a lifelong challenge to prove he's not an absentee parent, not a child abuser, not any of the demons he's been portrayed as since the incident.

"I won't ever use a switch again," Peterson said. "There's different situations where a child needs to be disciplined as far as timeout, taking their toys away, making them take a nap. There's so many different ways to discipline your kids."

In the more than 90-minute phone interview – Peterson's first extensive public remarks since his Sept. 11 indictment – he spoke with USA TODAY Sports on a wide variety of topics, including why he refused to attend a hearing with the NFL before Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended him as well as his future with the Minnesota Vikings.

"I would love to go back and play in Minnesota to get a feel and just see if my family still feels comfortable there," Peterson said. "But if there's word out that hey, they might release me, then so be it. I would feel good knowing that I've given everything I had in me."

Regardless of his football future, Peterson wanted to make clear his main focus now is on repairing his relationship with his son and trying to make people understand that, contrary to Goodell's remarks in handing down his ban, his remorse is real.

"No one knows how I felt when I turned my child around after spanking him and seeing what I had left on his leg," Peterson said. "No one knows that Dad sat there and apologized to him, hugged him and told him that I didn't mean to do this to you and how sorry I was.

"I love my son. I love my kids, my family. Like I said after I took the misdemeanor plea, I take full responsibility for my actions. I regret the situation. I love my son more than any one of you could even imagine."

CLOSE Embattled running back Adrian Peterson spoke to USA TODAY Sports' Tom Pelissero in an exclusive interview Thursday.

Waiting on Goodell 'I know I’ll have my opportunity to sit down with Roger'

The letter Goodell sent Peterson on Tuesday said the soonest he'll be considered for reinstatement is April 15, 2015. It also cited "aggravating factors" in explaining the enhanced ban – including the age of the child, the repetitive use of the switch and Peterson's failure to show "meaningful remorse" for his conduct.

"Ultimately, I know I'll have my opportunity to sit down with Roger face to face, and I'll be able to say a lot of the same things that I've said to you," Peterson said. "Don't say that I'm not remorseful, because in my statement, I showed that I was remorseful. I regretted everything that took place. I love my child, more than anyone could ever imagine."

Peterson said he did not attend the hearing the league scheduled for last week, with outside experts present, "because I didn't want to go into a situation blind. I didn't know what to expect. Who's going to be there? Who will I be meeting with? What details are we going to get into?"

Commissioner Roger Goodell welcomed Adrian Peterson into the league at the NFL draft in 2007, and now he is suspending the running back for the remainder of the season.

(Photo: Justin Kase Conder, USA TODAY Sports)

The NFL Players Association appealed Peterson's suspension Thursday morning, arguing that the league imposed "an entirely new and obfuscated disciplinary process" and applied changes to the personal conduct policy Goodell imposed Aug. 28, months after the May incident that yielded Peterson's original felony indictment on a charge of injury to a child.

He can't play anywhere until he's reinstated by Goodell, who has authority under the collective bargaining agreement to hear appeals of discipline (or designate someone else to) related to the personal conduct policy. Still, Peterson is an almost sure bet to get another shot in the NFL.

But if he loses his appeal and has to sit out the rest of this season, he's not certain that'll happen with the Vikings.

The team deactivated Peterson for a game against New England two days after the indictment, then briefly reinstated the 2012 NFL MVP before working with the league to place him on the commissioner's exempt list with pay amidst widespread sponsor and fan backlash.

"I would have to get back in the community and get a feel," Peterson said. "I know who loves me. The coaches and the players, it's not going to be a problem. I've felt so much support from those guys. The organization, I know there's people in the organization that support me and there's people that I know internally that has not been supporting me."

Peterson said there is mutual love with first-year coach Mike Zimmer, who read a motivational text from Peterson before a Sept. 28 game against Atlanta that's one of the Vikings' four wins. He'd gladly return this season if his appeal succeeds. But Peterson also said he has given a lot of thought to the idea that "maybe it's best for me to get a fresh start somewhere else."

Growing up in Texas, Peterson faced corporal punishment from his father and others. He's acutely aware that such punishments are viewed differently along geographical, cultural and racial lines, meaning his reintegration process might be easier some places than others.

"I got paddled at school," Peterson said. "People up north don't know anything about that, about going to the principal's office and getting three swats on your behind with a board with a hole cut in it."

Seeking truth and justice Peterson says many allegations false

David Cummings, former teammate and close friend of Adrian Peterson, pulls a branch off one of the trees in the front yard of his family’s home where he says he and Peterson picked switches that their fathers used to whip them.

(Photo: Josh Peter, USA TODAY Sports)

Peterson says he has been seeing a therapist out of Washington D.C., as well as a pastor near his home outside Houston who is certified in counseling. He also remains in touch with Vikings executive director of player development/legal Les Pico.

Peterson declined to comment on why he agreed to a plea deal or other facts of the criminal case in Texas, other than to refute what he says is false information about the incident. He said he also wants to see the person who leaked photos of his son's injuries is brought to justice.

"That's illegal," Peterson said. "For someone who wears the badge to disregard their badge and commit a crime says a lot. (But) no one cares how the pictures were released. All they care about is, 'Hey, these are the pictures. They say that he put leaves in his mouth. They say that he beat him. They say that I hit his hands (and those were) defensive wounds.' "

All of those allegations are false, Peterson said, repeating what he told police: He had his son take off his pants and whipped him with a switch, which he didn't realize was wrapping around the boy's thigh and leaving marks.

The photos of his son's injuries provoked reactions on social media similar to the outcry when video of then-Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punching out his then-fiancée surfaced days before Peterson's indictment. The timing colored public perception as the league was under heavy fire for its handling of domestic criminal incidents involving players.

"I take full responsibility, because I spanked my child, and no matter what my intentions were, I end up leaving those marks on his legs," Peterson said. "That's the bottom line.

"That's not what I tried to do, but that's what ended up happening. Don't put me in the same (category as Rice)."

Letting the anger go 'Let the world paint you out to be whatever they want'

Adrian Peterson walks off the Metrodome field after rushing for 199 yards on Dec. 30, 2012, to finish the season with 2,097 yards.

(Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn, USA TODAY Sports)

Attorney Kelly C. Dohm, who represents the mother of the boy at the center of the case, declined comment Thursday about the legal proceedings. But Dohm said her client "is very receptive to Mr. Peterson being in her son's life and has always welcomed his involvement as a parent."

Peterson admits he can't be as involved as he'd like in all his children's lives. Only one lives with him full-time. The other five are growing up much the same way as Peterson, whose father, Nelson, wasn't around much but made sure his 10 children had relationships with one another.

"You can look down on me and say, 'You have six kids. You should not be at this, you should not be at that,' " Peterson said. "This is the cards I've been dealt based off my decisions. I make the best of it by spending time with my kids, any and every opportunity that I have."

Peterson said his goal is "to get back to my normal life, being able to be around my son and being around my kids without having no barrier holding me back."

It has required some personal growth.

Two days before he called his son, Peterson's own mother came over and said she had noticed a change. Peterson's heart had hardened. But he says that changed when he heard his son's voice.

"I made a mistake," Peterson said. "People have painted this picture because they feel like, 'OK, this has happened and this is what has to take place.' But they don't know the love that my kids have for me. It was a good feeling inside.

"It made me realize that hey, the world can paint you to be this type of person, but ultimately, the child that they are making all these assumptions about – how you treated him and what you've done to him – he loves you unconditionally. He wants to be around you. So, let the world paint you out to be whatever they want."

GALLERY: ADRIAN PETERSON'S CAREER