Eddie Jones insists that he will pick his "best player" as captain - but will only decide England's leader when he knows his starting line-up to face Scotland.
The Australian on Wednesday named a much-changed first squad since succeeding Stuart Lancaster as coach.
Dylan Hartley, Chris Ashton and Manu Tuilagi return in Jones' Elite Player Squad for the Six Nations, but the 33-man party sees a number of big-name omissions including Tom Youngs, Tom Wood, Geoff Parling and Danny Cipriani.
There are seven uncapped players in the squad: Sam Hill, Josh Beaumont, Jack Clifford, Elliot Daly, Ollie Devoto, Paul Hill and Maro Itoje.
"I'm looking for these guys to bring enthusiasm, energy and a lot of hard work," Jones said. "We want them to play with a smile on their face and to enjoy it."
No captain has yet been named, with Jones content to bide his time, saying: "We've got 33 players. That goes down to 23 players, that goes down to 15 players. When we've got 15 players, then we'll worry about the captain."
Itoje has been spoken about as captaincy material, despite his inexperience, but Hartley is widely viewed as the favourite for the role.
The Northampton hooker's extensive record of disciplinary problems is the biggest counter-argument, but that is a question Jones will address at a later date.
"He's one of the 33 players at the moment," he said. "If he gets down to 23 then he gets down to 15, then we'll worry about those things.
"Your captain's got to be your best player. He's got to be one of the first selected in the team, and then he's got to lead by example.
"He needs to set standards for the team in terms of how we operate off the field, how we operate on the field, and he's got to be a conduit between the coaching staff and the players."
Jones added that the eventual appointment will be "probably just for the Six Nations to start with".
He also confirmed that the previous captain Chris Robshaw is being considered for selection solely as a No 6 - a blindside flanker, his current position at Harlequins - rather than as a No 7 where he played most of his England career to date.
"He's playing really well," Jones told Sky Sports News HQ. "I've been really impressed how he's been going.
"What he went through was difficult for anyone. He's rebounded really well from that and he's going to be very important for England going forward."
Gloucester's Matt Kvesic is favourite to start as openside against Scotland at Murrayfield.
Jones says that he wants his England team to have its own, distinct style.
"We want to always have a strong set-piece. We want to have aggressive defence," he said. "We want to develop an England style of attack. We're not going to copy New Zealand. We're not going to copy Australia. We're going to develop our own style.
"Gain-line is going to be important for us, our ability to find space, to use the kick to find space, running and passing to find space. We'll go about starting that in the Six Nations but it will take time to develop."