Nashville, TENN--Graham Calton leaves Memorial Gymnasium and practice at 4:00 with a full day still ahead of him.

Calton enters his senior season as a walk-on guard with a purpose bigger than his role on Mark Byington's first Vanderbilt team. Vanderbilt's senior wing wants to help people.

As a result he'll take on a night as a research assistant for the laboratory of Dr. Carrie Jones, who works for the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery.

Calton and Jones' research includes testing the effectiveness of novel drugs in animal models, which is one of the final stages before clinical trials in humans.

The pair often works to combat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Just three drugs that combat the former are currently FDA approved. That and the potential of what could be out there in medicine as it relates to the brain intrigue Calton.

"I think there's lots to be discovered in medicine that can help us," Calton said. "Making an impact is something that I enjoy doing and helping a lot of people and I feel that's definitely something I can do in this more so than other opportunities."

Calton hasn't made a final decision, but aims to become a doctor when it's all said and done. The degree track the 6-foot-4 senior is on as a neuroscience major gives him an opportunity to deeply investigate all things related to the brain.

An opportunity like that fascinates the Vanderbilt walk-on as he looks to turn over leaves that others haven't.

"There's a lot that's undiscovered or relatively unknown," Calton said. "Just being able to research, read a lot of papers and try to figure out a problem that there's not really an answer to yet is something that's really interesting. It kind of drives you to try to keep working."

Calton is also driven by the difference he can make in individual lives. That difference is tangible to his teammates.

"Provided he becomes a doctor, he's gonna save lives," former Vanderbilt center Liam Robbins said of Calton. "It's incredible the work he'd do."

Regardless of the eventual path Calton takes, Robbins has been impressed with his former teammate and how the juggling act he performs on a daily basis.

"I don't know how he does it," Robbins said of Calton balancing his workload with basketball. " I would talk to him like 'hey, what are you doing tonight?' And he's like 'oh, I got about seven or eight hours of studying to do' and he would sit there and study.

"He never complains. He's just a grinder and just a very, very smart, very bright guy."

Calton's dad, Robert, stands impressed by his son's daily habits. More than that, he's impressed at how he's pursued it on his own.

The 6-foot-4 guard wants this lifestyle, not for the glory but for the love of what he does.

"I think he's very much self motivated and he's independent, perhaps to a fault, and I think he identified this as an academic path that he wanted to pursue," Calton's dad said. "I think he's been able to succeed not because of any external pressure but because of his desire to compete."

It's all a balancing act for Calton, who starts his day around 7:00 A.M. each day, then heads to Memorial Gymnasium for a lift before his class that lasts from 9:00-12:00 A.M., the Vanderbilt senior then heads back to the Gym for afternoon practice and spends the rest of his nights at the Warren Center or in the books.

Perhaps what's more impressive to Robbins than the schedule itself is the balance that's exhibited in the midst of it.

"It's actually incredible how well he balances it," Robbins said. "A lot of people when they're pursuing something as difficult in the academic world as he is, it kind of takes over their life. He has this incredible way of balancing it."

Calton's schedule generally accounts for a day that starts at 7:00 A.M and doesn't wrap up until 10-11 P.M.

The Vanderbilt walk-on believes it's worth it, though.

"I would say it's very difficult," Calton said of his day-to-day workload, "It's a lot of work, like a lot of nights. But at the same time it's something you're interested in it's not undoable. I enjoy playing basketball. So the long hours practicing, traveling is all worth it and so great and it kind of works the same way with this just if it's something you love doing, it's not undoable."

Calton has brought that mentality to the floor, where he's earned respect as a result of it even while seeing the floor sparingly over the years.

"There were days where you'd argue you couldn't tell him apart from the scholarship players," Robbins said. "You trust him just as much as you trust any guy on scholarship and you could argue he could be should be a scholarship player."

Calton doesn't compare his experience to that of his scholarship teammates, though.

Instead he's embraced his role and has continued to pour into Mark Byington's program despite the expectation that he likely won't see the floor.

"It's mostly just to help my teammates who play a lot of minutes," Calton says of why he comes back. "Whatever we do in practice whether it's scout teams to help guys do better and finally watching them in games doing what they're capable of, which translates into wins. I think that's kind of the most important thing that keeps me coming back."

Calton's dad believes that repeatedly coming back has made a difference in his son's life.

"He's had good teammates and he's had good coaches, they've allowed him to develop not only as a basketball player or as a student, but as a person," Calton's dad said. "My opinion is that he's a better student because he's been a part of the basketball program."

Calton knows he won't be the star of Vanderbilt's roster. That's ok with him, though. He wants to help Vanderbilt to take the next step as a program.

The senior walk-on believes he can be part of a winning one.

"What Graham would enjoy the most is being part of a basketball program that makes it to the NCAA tournament and enjoys great success this year under coach Byington," Calton's dad said. "He wants to be a part of a winning program."

Calton loves it whether it wins or not, though.

"How passionate I am about Vandy sports as a whole," Calton said when asked what he wanted to be remembered by. "[I hope they remember me as] a guy who doesn't really put too much on himself, just kind of the success of the team in any situation, whether it's sports or not sports related."