And at the University of Michigan, Larkin is small potatoes. He doesn't have people taking notes for him. He isn't high profile enough to not go to class as has been suggested.
What? Did you go to U of M? Cause I went there for undergrad (and law school, but that was pretty exclusive of the rest of the campus) and almost
all athletes in the traditional sports are far from "small potatoes." You may not be identifiable in a large lecture (where you can skip half the classes anyways) but the second you are in section for that lecture and identify yourself as a member of any of the major sports teams, people look at you differently and any number of "oh, I couldn't make it because of [insert sport-related event here]" excuses are more often than not going to fly.
Also, I cannot tell you how many people I met there couldn't give two ***** about their hometown NHL teams and yet frequently attended games at Yost. All it takes is being a player whose name gets air time and people eat that **** up. You could have a room full of 100 people and if one person recognizes that Dylan Larkin is in that class, it won't be long before the entire class knows that "zomg, like, the best player on the hockey team is in this class" even if they don't know who the hell Larkin is.
And to boot, there are plenty of professors who will make concessions specifically for student athletes. They recognize that winning sports teams means higher revenue, which gets sports like football further into the black and sports like, say, crew further out of the red. As an employee of what is essentially a corporation, you want to see your company be as profitable as possible in the hopes that it positively affects your wallet. Of course, there are definitely those professors who don't give a **** and having academia running through their veins.
Hell, I used to mentor and tutor some of the high school kids at Pioneer and Community and they recognized the NTDP kids as having quasi-celebrity status. Now, most of them spoke about the NTDP kids with disdain and said they were essentially arrogant ****** bags, but they still elevated them above their peers despite themselves.
