SAVANNAH, Tenn. -- Echoes of "When the Saints Go Marching In" bounced off the wooden walls in Walker Elementary School here as nearly 190 students practiced for their arriving guests. "Don't let them come in yet, we've got to get the halls made," screams a female teacher as the Carroll College football teams' two buses roll into the parking lot.

The students quickly lined the hallway, singing the song they had been practicing as junior linebacker Brandon Day led his teammates up the steps of the brick building, past a glass case adorning autographed memorabilia from Saints teams of the past and through the gauntlet of young children.

After some of the smaller players first made their way to the gymnasium, offensive and defensive linemen silenced the crowd of children who crooked their necks to look up at the players that dwarfed them in size.

"They're big," said second grader Jontae Rice. "They're the biggest ones that I've ever met."

In the five times the Saints have traveled to Savannah to participate in the Rumble on the River NAIA national championship game, they have visited the tiny school, greeting kids and letting them know about the ideals of the NAIA's Champions of Character program.

In the packed gymnasium, the players took their place on the hardwood floor, sitting cross-legged with their miniature hosts. There, they watched a video slideshow of past visits projected on the wall. Former players who are now coaches like Tyler Emmert and Gary Cooper were among those pictured, meanwhile a photograph of head coach Mike Van Diest high-fiving the students with a beaming smile on his face made his players giggle harder than the youngsters behind them.

"It's very special for us to come down and spend time with them," Van Diest said afterward. "They talk about how much we do for those first, second, third, fourth and fifth graders. I think it did a lot for our players."

Over the years the two programs have developed a bond that has them communicating back and forth constantly. The students send letters and Christmas cards to the players, wishing them luck. Meanwhile, the senior captains -- John Barnett, Nick Milodragovich, Phil Lenoue and Bryson Pelc -- all gave speeches telling them how important the values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship that the NAIA hopes to promote are to them.

Not all the speeches went smoothly.

As Lenoue, a defensive lineman, tried to explain how every player affects a team, he expressed how he feels when the offensive side of the ball makes a great play.

"When John throws an interception," he said accidentally. He tried to correct himself, but his words were drowned in a bevy of laughter.

He covered his tracks, though, and let them know the quote his parents told him years ago: "If you're not practicing, someone else is."

Whether they faced the children for a few minutes, or quickly spoke their mind before nervously shuffling their way behind the other captains, they made their point.

With lessons learned, the Carroll student-athletes split up, visiting the different grades in their rooms. Junior linebackers Garrett Garrels and Owen Koeppen both visited a room of kindergarteners. Garrels read to them the children's book "The Mouse Before Christmas," one that was apparently handed to Koeppen first.

"Owen came up and sneakily handed me the book," Garrels said. "I think he was scared to do it himself." Meanwhile, junior offensive lineman Adam Brockway and sophomore linebacker Mac Gordon both answered questions from the students in Denice Phillips' second-grade class.

When one child asked what a linebacker does, Gordon responded: "Linebacker is kind of the glory position. We get to make the tackles."

Among the students was Rice. He said his older brother is a linebacker, but he'd rather be a wide receiver. The child -- whose bouncy afro got attention from a number of the players, many of them sporting mohawks -- understands a little bit of what it takes to be play at Carroll.

"Probably, you got to study hard and know all the positions," he said. "In school and on the field."

The children enjoyed the visit for a number of reasons.

Keanu Reeves, who had the back of her T-shirt covered with autographs, said she's a big fan of football and likes to watch the NFL.

Her friend, Sasia Patterson, said she was excited "knowing how famous they are and getting the chance to meet them."

Meanwhile another friend, Hannah Rose, simply said: "I like the cute ones."

No matter where they were, the players attracted attention. Senior wide receiver David Whitmoyer was signing autographs in the gymnasium while Lenoue and junior defensive tackle Mike Paffhausen were busy wrestling with the kids in the prekindergarten class.

After Paffhausen emerged from a load of bodies that had gang-tackled him on the floor, one student, Trevor Harville, remained hanging on -- upside down on the player's back with his feet knocking into Paffhausen's head. Lenoue said he loved the visit with all the children. The oldest of eight in his family, it reminded him of home.

"I really enjoy hanging out with little kids," he said. "Right now my youngest sister is seven years old and being with those little preschool kids was a ton of fun, playing around with them. They had a great time, too." He said the activity he enjoyed the most was playing ring-around-the-rosy with Paffhausen, Milodragovich, safeties Zach Richardson and Cody Zimmerman and about eight of the preschool kids.

"It's just like a homecoming for us. We're always thrilled when they come," said Walker principal Patricia White. "For the kids, it's a wonderful experience because they get to interact with athletes that are good examples of what sportsmanship means."

When the Saints were stopped in the quarterfinals last year and couldn't make it to the city, White said simply "It wasn't the same."

"They belong as far as we're concerned, they're a part of our school."

For those players who made their first visit, it won't be either.

"I really didn't know what to expect," said junior receiver Travis Browne. "When I went there it was a blast. The kids loved you, they looked up to you, you got to sign autographs, you felt like a big-time player."

The Saints might never get to visit Walker Elementary again, however. The Hardin County Board of Education voted Wednesday that five aging elementary schools in the area, including Walker, should be closed and their classrooms consolidated into two larger facilities.

As the team headed to the buses in the parking lot, which was lined by their cheering fans, Cooper took one last stop to look in the trophy case and photograph the tribute to the days he used to step on the field.

"If they're going to close that school we'll still have great memories of it," Van Diest said. "They've got a lot of mementos from our programs over the last five years, and we'll hold them dear to our hearts forever."