Rookie Kendrick Green wasn’t expecting to be the first candidate to line up at center with the Pittsburgh Steelers first-team offense in training camp.

He’s also not making a big deal about it, either.

“No,” Green said Wednesday when asked specifically about taking first-team snaps in the first week of camp. “I still have my things that I need to work on. I’m not thinking about that.”

Not even a call home to family and friends, a reporter wanted to know.

“No,” he said again, flashing a smile. “I keep it in house.”

The third-round draft pick from Illinois is taking a modest yet professional approach as he tries to win the center competition created when nine-time Pro Bowl pick Maurkice Pouncey retired in February after 11 seasons with the Steelers.

Green’s competition is J.C. Hassenauer, who has missed several practices with a leg injury, and B.J. Finney, who returned to the Steelers in free agency after a one-year absence. Hassenauer was listed as the first-team center on the team’s initial preseason depth chart. Green was second and Finney third.

To open camp, though, coach Mike Tomlin bypassed the veteran options in favor of Green, whom he is giving the opportunity to start the Hall of Fame Game on Aug. 5 against the Dallas Cowboys. Tomlin hasn’t guaranteed anything to Green beyond that game, but it is obvious the Steelers have high expectations for him as they prepare to move on without Pouncey.

In the early part of training camp, Tomlin has tried to temper any enthusiasm about Green.

“I want to see him digest the verbiage and do a good job of communicating and being that hub or focal point of the offensive line,” he said. “He’s embracing that element.”

While most Steelers players headed to their offseason homes after mandatory minicamp concluded in June, Green remained in Pittsburgh to work out at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex and enhance his familiarity with the team’s playbook.

When training camp commenced last week, Green’s work didn’t go unnoticed by his coach.

“I like what he did from a conditioning standpoint from the end of the spring until now,” Tomlin said. “You can see he’s one of the guys that took a step. That month away from us, he really took a step in the right areas. That should be continually beneficial for him as we continue through the process.”

Green had no expectations of playing time with the first team when he reported last week. Rookies, after all, often begin with the second and third teams and have to work their way up the pecking order. Green and first-round running back Najee Harris were the exceptions this year. Fourth-rounder Dan Moore is getting first-team snaps at left tackle because of an injury to Chuks Okorafor.

“The first day of camp they threw me in there,” Green said. “But I don’t even think about it like that. I just go out, and we have a great D-line. I like working with them and developing each and every day.”

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger noticed early in camp that Green made all of the correct calls at the line of scrimmage and didn’t have any errant snaps. Green has experienced a few hiccups since then — he bungled a few snaps late in practice Wednesday — which isn’t unexpected for a rookie who is trying to get in sync with an 18-year veteran.

“I want to continue to develop his trust and be reliable,” Green said. “I don’t want to be somebody he has to worry about and not be a burden.”

So far, so good for Green, who wants to take advantage of all the snaps he is getting with first-team linemen.

“I’m just going to continue to develop with each time we work together,” he said. “That’s why we are out here, to get a starting point and to build off it every day.”

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