Latest news with #theClock
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Classic car fabrication skills get fine-tune: On the Clock
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — At this point in our On The Clock with Natalie McCain series, you've seen me lay down welds and precisely slice materials. In this week's edition, I get to fine-tune my fabrication skills, combining my new skills from the past 10 weeks at Ruben's House of Classics. Amateur welder braves 10K degrees, 300 mph sand blasting: On the Clock 'Right off the bat, this place is huge. There are a ton of cars here, and they're all waiting to get worked on,' I said. 'We have everything from the 1930s to the 1940s and 1950s; all these classic cars are getting their special touch.' That special touch? Shop Supervisor Ruben Junior Rodriguez said it's from basic fabrication to full-blown restorations. Our job is to drop this 1948 Chevy Fleetline — an intimidating job, but I'm revved up. 'We can start by cutting off the brackets that we need for the airbags in the 1948 Fleet, and then we'll lay them out,' Rodriguez said. These brackets will go under the car and house the suspension airbags, allowing the car to be slow and low yet with maximum movement. After cutting the brackets, we smooth them out with an air grinder. 'Pretty nervous to have that air grinder. Just the sparks flying. I could feel them coming and hitting me, but they didn't hurt,' I said. 'But just getting over that initial fear and moving past that, it's pretty incredible. So I'm excited to see what else we do here today.' …Perfectly measure them out, and bend them in the press for a perfect fit. That in-house precision is Ruben Jr.'s favorite part. 'Learning the tricks of the trade, what works for us [and] having the equipment to be able to do everything ourselves in-house,' he said. It's pedal to the metal for Ruben Jr., but the job isn't without its challenges. 'Working on a car that you've never done before,' he said. 'The issue you might have runs into another issue, which runs into another issue, and creates a chain effect.' But between the geometry, grease, and sweat, the hardest tasks turn into reality. With Ruben Jr.'s lifelong expertise on my side, it's time for us to mount our metal—my welding experience, coming in handy. After two hours of grinding, welding and measuring, my time was up. 'Be completely honest with me. Based on my performance today and the things that we did, would you hire me as an apprentice?' I asked. 'Yes. You had a good start,' Ruben Jr. answered. It's safe to say these classic cars are geared up for greatness. 'Keep it simple. Keep it straightforward,' he said. 'Do it step by step and you can't go wrong.' Ruben's House of Classics is located at 417 Indiana Avenue. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
New York Times
08-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Why the Colts have to prioritise Colston Loveland in the draft
When the spotlight turns on the Indianapolis Colts with the 14th pick on draft day it's expected that General Manager Chris Ballard will target a tight end, especially as Mo Alie-Cox remains an unrestricted free agent and Kylen Granson is now with the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Advertisement The Colts finished the 2024 season with an 8-9 record and narrowly missed out on a playoff berth. If they are to end their four-year postseason drought in 2025, they will need to land another pass-catcher. On the latest episode of 'The Athletic Football Show', the third in our 'On the Clock' series, Robert Mays was joined by ESPN's Ben Solak to discuss why Michigan tight end Colston Loveland would be a better fit for Indianapolis than Penn State's Tyler Warren. Watch the full discussion below. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in 'The Athletic Football Show' feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Robert: Let's get to the Indianapolis Colts at 14. You have three options; first, tight end Colston Loveland from Michigan… Ben: I don't need to hear the next two (laughs)… Robert: That's it, you're done? (Laughs) The other one was an interior offensive lineman, so Kelvin Banks Jr. if he's available, or Tyler Booker. The third option was Jihaad Campbell from Alabama. But you don't need to hear the options, Colston Loveland is the answer? Ben: Jihaad Campbell was interesting for a second. I like Campbell a lot, and the film is good. But the torn labrum seems like it's really impacting the draft process, and there might be a fall there. I can't speak to his medicals, but that's something that's been spoken about post-combine. I have Loveland as tight end one. I like him a hair better than Tyler Warren. It is splitting hairs legitimately because they're both very good tight ends and both bring value as blockers and as receivers. They're just used a little bit differently. So much of Warren's production at Penn State was the goofy stuff like screens, throwbacks, the wheels on the fake screens and everything, which is totally fine. Advertisement Robert: Playing center and catching jump balls in the end zone… Ben: Right. It doesn't take anything away from the fact he's clearly got height, power, some strength and movement skills to him. But if you want Warren to have a round one impact on your passing game, you've got to design stuff for him. You have to make plays for his skill set to shine. With Loveland, you just put him out there because he has the speed, the change of direction, and he catches everything. He's got wonderful hands away from his frame through contact, and he can line up on the outside for you if you want to use him that way as your tight end. When you look at the Colts and you say, 'Anthony Richardson, the run game and the multiple backfield stuff,' Warren would be a great fit for them. But there's nothing that Loveland can't do. And if you're taking a run-heavy approach there with Richardson in the trenches, and tied up next to the offensive tackle, Loveland is a better blocker than Warren even though Warren gets the tough guy moniker. People assume he's a better blocker… and he is tough as nails. But he's got short arms and he doesn't displace and uproot people the way you might expect him to. He's very high cut, and he doesn't have that lower-body leverage. Robert: Why do you think that moniker has been attached to Warren more than it's been attached to Loveland? Ben: Because he plays for Penn State and he kind of has a mullet (laughs)… and he's very physical with the ball in his hands, so it just makes sense. Our brains just naturally fill in the gap of the evaluation. But it's the length thing. Warren has a 10th percentile arm length for tight ends. It's 31 and a half inches, which is very light. He goes into contact good and keeps his hips and pads low. But when he goes to up route, he doesn't have the lockout you would expect a guy to have because he's a little bit lacking in length. Advertisement Loveland is a bit more linear and thinner. He's not a 260-pound guy rolling people off the line of scrimmage. He's a Michigan tight end… to fall into the new stereotype now. But he understands how to get into his blocks, he knows how to seal guys off and steal an extra half second with a hold, and he gets the job done. So to me, Loveland would fit very nicely with what the Colts need at tight end. Robert: That was my next question here. You like Loveland as a prospect, but how does he fit with what the Colts already have? Looking at their pass-catching group here, if they draft a tight end at 14 they've got a really good tight end, hopefully in Loveland. They've got Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs, Adonai Mitchell, who they drafted in the second round last year and Alec Pierce. We don't know who's going to be the quarterback yet, but they'll probably feel pretty good about their pass-catching options if Colston Loveland turns into the player you want him to be at 14. Ben: I do think that one of the issues the Colts ran into last season was they looked at Pittman Jr., Downs and Pierce, and they said, 'Okay, obviously Pierce plays way deep down the field for us, but he's this 50-50 jump ball guy. Pittman we more so use underneath, and Downs can play downfield a little bit, but he's smaller so we'll use him in the slot. And we'll get Mitchell and have some real speed and field stretching abilities.' But with Mitchell, it just never crystallized with Anthony Richardson at quarterback and the chemistry was never great. Mitchell made his mental errors and Richardson had his accuracy issues, and it was just no good. In Loveland, I'm introducing a player who, from the seam, can put a lot of vertical stress on you right away. Loveland eats up ground off the line of scrimmage, he's got big strides and he goes. It's not a traditional field stretching thought — but if you're thinking about that play-action-heavy approach and that ability to sucker some linebackers down to then get your one-on-one opportunities down the field, I like Loveland in that sort of role because of how quickly he gets down field. He's also so good at catching above the rim, and he's awesome at catching the ball when it's above his face mask. So I like verticality with Loveland. He's good on the break, and he's got good yards after the catch, so I do like the ability to get him moving up the seam in this exact offense. You can listen to full episodes of 'The Athletic Football Show' for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube. (Top Photo: Michael Miller/)
