Grant Newsome’s injury last fall against Wisconsin could have cost him his leg.

That’s what he acknowledged to reporters in Rome, breaking a long quiet period over the knee injury that cost him the last seven games of the 2016 season and will take away 2017 altogether.

That’s nothing, compared to what he might have lost.

“I suffered a pretty serious knee injury,” he said. “I was fortunate the doctors caught the severity of it early enough on, and were able to get me into surgery that night, and saved my leg.”

Newsome actually walked off the field that afternoon at Michigan Stadium. His mom was in the stands that day, and he didn’t want to worry her about it. He had no idea about the severity of what he’d suffered.

Michigan doctors directed him to the hospital, though, and that proved a crucial decision. Newsome admitted he experienced a sinking feeling, the more tests that were done on him over the course of four hours.

“By the time the doctors came in and said, ‘We need to take you in for emergency surgery,’ the writing was on the wall at that point,” he said. “I’m just really fortunate our doctors were able to catch it.”

Six surgeries ensued, over the course of his 40-day hospital stay. They were spaced out, Newsome said, because some things had to be taken care of before others were addressed.

He nearly lost the leg, he admitted.

“It was pretty close,” he said. “I’m not going into too much detail, but…”

Now, he’s just working his way back, and enjoying Rome on two legs.

“I’m really fortunate with how everything happened,” he said. “I’m just trying to work through the lasting effects of the injury right now.”

Here’s what he had to say, in this video by Angelique Chengelis of The Detroit News.