TEWKSBURY — The Pro Bowl safety, No. 32 in your New England Patriots’ program, patiently waited outside the Trahan Elementary School for his name to be called Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, inside the school’s cafeteria/auditorium, the anticipation was building. There on the floor sat 250 students, decked out in Patriots garb and waving Popsicle sticks with a photo of Devin McCourty attached to the top. In unison, a loud chant broke out, vibrating off the walls — “De-vin, De-vin, De-vin.”

Shortly thereafter, the door in the back corner of the room swung open, and in came the 5-foot-10, 186-pound McCourty. He was treated to a rousing ovation and rewarded the students with high-fives as he walked toward the stage. For the 27-year-old, the adulation never gets old.

“I probably got about five or six more years of this in me, and then most kids will say, ‘who is that?’ They’ll say, ‘He must have played before I was born,'” McCourty said. “It’s cool. For me being around guys like Tom (Brady) and Vince (Wilfork), who have been doing this for 10-plus years, they always have a kid-like energy. They are great role models.”

McCourty has done his share with the community. On Tuesday, he was named the Patriots’ nominee for the annual Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which honors a player’s commitment to volunteer work in their community. Each NFL team has a nominee.

McCourty was in Tewksbury as part of a promotion to celebrate school breakfast. Trahan Elementary School was awarded $1,725 by the dairy-farm families of Massachusetts to offer a healthy Breakfast-in-the-Classroom program to all students. Also on hand to speak was Warren Shaw, a Massachusetts dairy farmer from Shaw Farm in Dracut.

The school will use the funds to start a Breakfast-in-the-Classroom program in January with the goal of increasing breakfast participation to over 40 percent by the end of the 2014-15 academic year.

McCourty, a 2010 first-round draft pick by the Patriots out of Rutgers University, was a big hit with the youngsters. He backed up his impressive on-field résumé — 17 interceptions in five seasons — with a personality to match. When the chanting of his name quieted, he milked the moment for all it was worth, telling his admirers, “Keep going, keep going, don’t stop.”

“When I was younger and I first got in the NFL, I didn’t fully understand how important a full breakfast is,” McCourty said. “I would just grab a couple pieces of fruit, and sometimes I would doze off during morning meetings. It’s a little different for you guys. When you fall asleep in class, your teacher just wakes you up. If we fall asleep, they hand us a piece of paper that tells us we’ll be docked $1,800.”

McCourty discussed the importance of a healthy, full breakfast and how he makes sure to eat right every morning, even while on the road. The students hung intently on every one of his words.

“The school is very excited to implement the new breakfast-in-the-classroom program. And for us to be lucky enough to have an athlete like Devin McCourty come in and talk about that program, nutrition and the way that he prepares for games was great,” said Trahan Principal Matthew Castonguay. “Now we’re going to use that and make a connection to the classroom.”

A selected group of students had the opportunity to ask questions of McCourty. One student wanted to know what it’s like for McCourty to play against his twin brother, Jason (Tennessee Titans cornerback).

“It’s fun. You know why? Because the one time we played each other, we beat them 34-13,” said McCourty.

Another student took it up a notch with a question that McCourty maybe didn’t expect at an elementary school on a Tuesday morning: Which coach had the greatest impact on you as a football player, and what makes him different from the other coaches you have had?

“That’s a tough one right there,” McCourty said. “I would say, now, playing for coach (Bill) Belichick. Just because of the knowledge he has of the game of football. He’s taught me so much, from all the little things I learned from him in my rookie year.”

An answer that will please the folks in Foxboro, for sure.

Follow Matt Langone on Twitter and Tout @MattLangone.