SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Playing center is more than just hiking the ball to the quarterback and trying to ward off nose tackles with angry intentions. Sure, that’s the public part of the gig, but there’s much more to it.

And for San Francisco 49ers rookie Marcus Martin, who will be making his NFL regular-season debut Sunday against the St. Louis Rams, a big part of that is getting in sync with quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

“Just understanding the things that he likes to do, the things that he will do in order to make a play go,” Martin said. “Just having an overall comprehension of his scheme and his system and what he feels is best in that play.

“I just sit back and take notes and put in my own twist on things as far as making it relateable to me because I’m trying to fill on for someone who is a tremendous center.”

Daniel Kilgore went down for the season with a broken left ankle at Denver on Oct. 19, which ushered in the Martin era, even as Martin suffered what he called an “acute” dislocation of his left knee in the Niners’ third exhibition game.

Kaepernick said he expects Martin to “perform well” against the Rams.

“He’s someone that we’ve worked with, we’ve had work with and he’s been on top of things in meetings,” Kaepernick said. “So, looking forward to seeing what he does.

“We tell him we’re changing the protection and he changes it.”

Martin said he has spent his time on the sidelines taking every mental rep possible, identifying fronts on the field to get him as ready as he can be when his name is called.

“Playing center is all about being able to direct traffic,” he said, “and understanding things that are being thrown at you.”