FORT COLLINS — At Monday’s Colorado State football news conference in the team auditorium, dark-haired Californian and Rams quarterback Nick Stevens was eating pizza and waiting for his turn at the microphone.

CSU middle linebacker Deonte Clyburn, wrapping up his session with the media, was asked: Is there anything you’ve wanted to ask Nick Stevens?

Thoughtfully, Clyburn waited.

Finally, he said, “Why isn’t your hair blond anymore?”

After the laughter, Clyburn added, “We came on the same (recruiting) visit and Nick Stevens had blond hair. I thought it was a ‘Cali’ thing.”

A little thing? Perhaps. But it hints at part of the reason the Rams moved Clyburn, a junior from Louisville, Ky., into the starting lineup at middle linebacker at midseason and switched Cory James back to the strong side.

The transition from the 3-4 alignment the Rams played during the Jim McElwain regime to the 4-3 they deploy under Mike Bobo and defensive coordinator Tyson Summers necessitated shuffling. This season, James started the first six games in the middle. He is talented, perhaps the most talented of all the Rams’ defensive players, but he also is quiet and reserved. The Rams decided James would be more comfortable returning to the outside, and he has played well there since the switch.

“He’s the one guy on our team who can erase a mistake,” Bobo said of James, at his best as an effective edge pass rusher.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Clyburn has taken over in the middle, while also being a vocal leader, spark and emotional force.

It has all helped the Rams run off four wins in their last five games, become bowl eligible and take a 6-5 record into their final regular-season game Saturday at Fresno State.

“I really don’t think it was a challenge at all,” Clyburn said. “Honestly, when you’re put into the middle linebacker spot, you know you have to be that guy, you have to be the one to call the shots, you have to be the one who knows the defense and knows what everyone is doing. I just felt it was a responsibility and something I needed to do for the team.”

Said Bobo: “Our communication and midstream adjustments have gotten better because of Deonte Clyburn and his understanding of what we’re trying to do defensively.”

The coach added, “He’s a vocal guy that’s not afraid to speak out. Is he right every time? No. But he speaks up with authority, says, ‘Hey, we have this call’ and communicates effectively at that position. Cory played his tail off and played hard, but he was not the communicator. You have to be a little bit more of a communicator at that position to get guys lined up and (Clyburn) has done a nice job of that.”

One of the underplayed aspects of the coaching transition has been that the Rams didn’t just lose major talent from the offense — including Garrett Grayson, Ty Sambrailo and Dee Hart — after last season, but also standout 2014 senior linebackers Max Morgan and Aaron Davis. They weren’t pro prospects, but heady and terrific college players who were even better as a tandem in the 3-4 than they were individually. Clyburn backed up Morgan and learned.

“Everything he did, I tried to mimic,” Clyburn said. “He knew what everyone was doing, so that’s what I tried to take in, knowing what everybody needs to do and why we’re doing it, and knowing what schemes will work for us.”

Terry Frei: tfreidenverpost.com or @TFrei