Editor's note: The following report includes graphic detail and wording.

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Jerry Sandusky "horsed around" with kids after workouts, showered with them and touched their legs, the former Penn State assistant football coach told NBC's Bob Costas.

But the contact was not intended to be sexual, and Sandusky has had no inappropriate contact with young people, he told Costas. Sandusky said he has never touched their genitals or engaged in oral sex with them.

He made the remarks in a telephone interview that aired Monday night on "Rock Center," a relatively new national news program hosted by Brian Williams. Among Sandusky's other remarks:

• The allegation that he raped a young boy in an on-campus shower facility in March 2002 is false, Sandusky said. Asked why assistant football coach Mike McQueary -- who reported the allegation -- would lie about such a thing, Sandusky said: "You'd have to ask him that."

Sandusky recalled the 2002 incident this way: "We were showering and horsing around. And he (the boy) actually turned all the showers on and was actually sliding across the floor. And we were, as I recall, possibly snapping a towel (in) horseplay."

• A custodian reported in 2000 that he saw Sandusky performing oral sex on a young boy at University Park. But Sandusky said in the "Rock Center" interview that that never happened.

• At one point, Costas said to Sandusky that he must be "the unluckiest and most persecuted man" if all the child-sex-abuse allegations against him are false.

Said Sandusky: "I don't know what you want me to say."

• Asked if former football coach Joe Paterno ever spoke to Sandusky about his behavior or expressed any kind of disapproval, Sandusky said that Paterno did not.

Asked how he feels about the fallout at Penn State since the filing of child-sexual-abuse charges, Sandusky said: "How would you think that I would feel about a university that I attended, about people that I've worked with, about people that I care so much about? How do you think I would feel about it? I feel horrible."

Asked if he feels guilty, Sandusky said: "No, I don't think it's my fault. I've obviously played a part in this."

Sandusky soon added: "In retrospect, I shouldn't have showered with those kids."

• Sandusky said he is not a pedophile. Asked if he is sexually attracted to underage boys, Sandusky paused, then said: "Am I sexually attracted to underage boys? Sexually attracted? No. I enjoy young people. I love to be around them. I -- no. I'm not sexually attracted to young boys."

• Asked how he would respond to millions of Americans who think he is a monster, Sandusky said: "I don't know what I can say or what I could say that would make anybody feel any different now. I would just say that if somehow people could hang on until my attorney has a chance to fight, you know, for my innocence -- that's about all I could ask right now. Obviously, it's a huge challenge."

Sandusky's attorney, Joe Amendola, also appeared on "Rock Center." Interviewed by Costas, Amendola said he believes "at least several of those kids" involved in the allegations will ease off the claims.

He also said that Sandusky's defense team thinks "we have identified" the boy involved in the 2002 incident. The defense has information to suggest that abuse never happened in that incident, Amendola said.

"I believe in his innocence," Amendola said of Sandusky. He also said he would not hesitate to leave his own kids alone in Sandusky's presence.

Sandusky, the founder of The Second Mile nonprofit group, was charged earlier this month with 40 criminal counts. He is accused of a prolonged period of child sexual abuse.

All earlier and related StateCollege.com coverage is available via the page linked below. Video from "Rock Center" is posted via the NBC News website.

Related coverage

• StateCollege.com's earlier and ongoing coverage of the Penn State-charges situation