Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs told ESPN Thursday he partially tore his Achilles tendon during a conditioning drill in Arizona but believes he can return by the middle of the 2012 season.

Suggs told ESPN's Rachel Nichols in a telephone interview that he injured himself practicing the conditioning test the Ravens make their players take. He was working out at his old high school in Chandler, Ariz. He said he started and stopped and felt something turn, so he called his trainer to get an exam.

In an earlier text to ESPN, he said the injury happened Saturday.

He said he is not on crutches, but confirmed he is having surgery next week. In earlier texts to ESPN, Suggs said he will meet with the surgical specialist Tuesday and that he expects to recover from the injury in four to six months.

Although the general length of time to full activity following the surgery is four to six months, the average return to playing in an NFL game is 11 months, according to a study presented at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in 2006.

Suggs, who turns 30 in October, said he has been stunned at reports that he will miss the season.

"That's just going to make it so much sweeter when I run out of that tunnel and prove everyone wrong," Suggs told Nichols.

He said the injury is the first major one in his career.

"I've never had a real bad injury before -- sometimes you have to go through something like this to make you better," he said.