DeAndre Levy has missed the past four weeks of the season with a quad and knee injury and the Detroit Lions have offered very few answers to what is going on with their star linebacker.

But on Tuesday night, he told ESPN he is doing everything he can to play again as soon as possible this season.

"I'll try to be back this year," Levy told ESPN.

Levy declined to say what his injury is and could not give a timetable for his potential return to the lineup. But it hasn't been easy for him.

Levy explained what the process has been like. He has missed all but one-and-a-half games over the past two seasons dealing with myriad injuries, including a hip injury that sidelined him for all but one half of one game of the 2015 season and then the quad and knee injuries this season.

"It's been pretty frustrating. Each time, dating back to the spring, where I had something that sidelined me, it was kind of the same process," Levy said. "Work hard, get it back right, get it back strong, get back out there. I'm not out there long and boom, another setback. Boom, another setback. So you keep putting your energy and your time and effort into everything you can do and everything they tell you to do to get prepared and get back on the field and something else happens, something new arises and it's frustrating. You put all your energy and focus into one thing and then something new happens.

"The first two weeks after the Indianapolis game, I was pretty bummed. I was bummed for like two weeks, I was a little bit withdrawn. Coming into that third, fourth week, I kind of just forced myself to think about it as an obstacle. I gotta embrace it. I have to, just because I'm not [in] there doesn't mean I still can’t be part of the team; I still can't coach guys up; I still can't do my responsibility and attack this thing with all I can, you know."

Levy said he knows he is in the midst of a rough stretch, injury-wise, but "I'm mentally in a place right now where I'm ready to attack this one and do what I gotta do."

He has been around the facility throughout his recovery process, working out, trying to get back on the field as fast as he can. He dismissed the notion he doesn't want to play anymore, saying flatly "that's not true." He said all the time and energy he put in -- both now when he is injured and in the past -- along with what his teammates, coaches, training staff and even his parents have put in matters to him as he rehabs. He enjoys playing with his teammates too much for that to even be a thought.

"All the energy the people around me, to help me get here, to help me stay here, to have put into this, I can't turn my back on that," Levy said. "That doesn't even make sense to me."

He also called a report last week that he had been cleared by some doctors to play "100 percent false," a report his head coach, Jim Caldwell, also denied last week.

Levy watched road games at home and said that made him empathize with fans more because like them, he sees the ups and downs. And he wants to be back out there, experiencing those things with his teammates and trying to help.

Even though he's not out there, Levy said he feels the sting of the Lions' losses. It's a different feeling, though, because he wants to be out there experiencing the game day with them.

"More than anything, I don't want to be sidelined while things are happening on the football field and while the team is going through struggles and ups and downs and you see what's happening with the defense," Levy said. "It's tough, man. It's tough to sit by and just watch things happen. You wonder if you would make a difference or if you could make a play here or wonder if you would be able to do something because the first three, four weeks for us was a slow start for us and kind of up and down.

"Standing by and watching that is tough. It's really tough, man. I want to be a part of it and I want to help us win. Sitting back and watching it, it's difficult."

It's something he knows he has to do so he can return to the field as fast as possible, though.