Suspended Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson insists he is remorseful and has vowed to never use a switch from a tree as discipline on any of his children again.

Peterson expressed regret for injuring his 4-year-old son in a more than 90-minute phone interview with USA Today Sports published Thursday night.

“I won’t ever use a switch again,” Peterson told USA Today in his first extensive public remarks since being indicted for reckless or negligent injury to a child. “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.”

On Tuesday, the NFL suspended Peterson without pay for at least the remainder of the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy related to his child-abuse case in Texas. Peterson pleaded no contest to charges for the discipline of his 4-year-old son, who suffered cuts, marks and bruising to his thighs, back and on one of his testicles, according to court records.

Peterson will not be considered for NFL reinstatement before April 15, 2015. The league gave the 29-year-old former All-Pro detailed protocol for returning to an active role.

Commissioner Roger Goodell was critical of the Peterson in a statement announcing the suspension.

“You have shown no meaningful remorse for your conduct,” Goodell said in his statement Tuesday.

Peterson told USA Today that his focus now is on improving his relationship with his son and proving to others that Goodell’s opinion is wrong.

“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.

“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. 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 Ray Rice).”

Rice, the former Baltimore Ravens running back, remains out of the league after a video surfaced showing him punching and knocking out his then-fiancee and now-wife in an Atlantic City casino hotel elevator.

Peterson, a six-time Pro Bowler, has spent all eight seasons of his pro career with the Vikings, who selected him with the seventh overall pick in the 2007 draft.

“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 told USA Today. “Maybe it’s best for me to get a fresh start somewhere else.

“I would love to go back and play in Minnesota to get a feel and just see if my family still feels comfortable there. 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.”

Peterson looks forward one day to a face-to-face meeting with Goodell.

“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 (after he turned himself into authorities Sept. 13), I showed that I was remorseful. I regretted everything that took place. I love my child, more than anyone could ever imagine.”

Peterson confirmed to USA Today that he is the father of six children by six women.

“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.”

Growing up in Texas, Peterson said he faced corporal punishment from his father and 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.”

Peterson told USA Today 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.

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.

Before Tuesday’s suspension, Peterson was on the commissioner’s exempt list, drawing his full salary. The unpaid suspension will cost him approximately $703,125 per week — a total of $4,218,750 — through the end of the regular season.

Peterson signed a $100 million contract on Sept. 10, 2011. That deal included $36 million in guaranteed money — a total that has been completely paid by the Vikings.