Corey Butler’s influence has been felt in Stegeman Coliseum this season.

But Butler doesn’t want his contributions to end there.

“I really want to study cancer,” Butler said. “It’s really the big one, since there are so many different forms. I would really like to get out there to research and find a cure or something that could help the rest of the world.”

An ambitious thought from Butler, considering this statement was made while standing on the basketball court at the coliseum’s practice facility.

Butler is majoring in microbiology and is on track to graduate in Dec. 2009. The scholarship won’t stop there as the Decatur native plans to take the GRE, the MCAT and apply to graduate and medical school.

Adding the academic schedule of a science major to the already rigorous test of year-round basketball demands could burn out even the most striving individual.

But in the past Butler has had 17 hours of coursework a week, on top of tireless hours of lifting weights, practice and film sessions.

“I’ve had organic chemistry labs that are three hours, and you have to sit through those all days,” Butler said. “At times I’ve had a three-hour lab on a Monday where I’ve had to run straight to practice without eating. But it’s all worth it.”

This summer Butler will travel to Peru with Luke Naeher, associate professor of environmental health sciences, to study diseases such as tuberculosis.

“Corey Butler is the real deal,” Naeher said. “He is a fine person top to bottom and a very interesting young man.”

Initially, Butler didn’t plan to play basketball in college. He turned down scholarships to smaller Division 1 schools, including North Carolina at Greensboro and Alabama State, to come to the University.

“I came here to go to school and I’d wanted to play basketball,” Butler said. “I’d turned down some scholarships to smaller schools to play, but I just wanted to go to school to major in microbiology.”

However, once Butler was on campus, he couldn’t stay away from the hardwood.

“I just started to miss the game too much, so I decided to go ahead and walk-on, and it turned out pretty well,” he said.

This season Butler has developed into an unquestioned leader, barking out offensive calls from the wing and defending each opponent’s top scoring option.

“You see his leadership on the basketball court, and that’s how Corey is in real life,” Naeher said. “He can do anything he wants. He is sharp enough, motivated, and he has the skill-set to do it all.”