The early growing pains of learning a new offense were on display Saturday morning as UCLA had its third practice of spring camp, but the first in full pads and the first open practice in front of the general public and media.

Appalachian State transfer quarterback Joey Aguilar and the rest of the group produced mixed results (more on that in the observations below), but Bruins second-year head coach DeShaun Foster and new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri said things are very much still in the teaching stages of camp.

Aguilar, rising redshirt sophomore Luke Duncan and rising redshirt freshman Dermaricus Davis, in order, handled the bulk of the snaps in the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 team periods.

Foster said he wants to see the film before providing a full assessment, but “I believe that they had an OK day.”

“Things are never as bad as you think they are and never as good when you’re rolling the film,” Foster said after the two-hour practice. “I think that they are making strides. You saw a big jump from the first practice (Tuesday) to the second (Thursday), so I want to see how big of a jump it was.”

It was a very limited package of mostly short throws on display when the quarterbacks did drop back to pass, as Sunseri continues the installation of the system throughout camp.

Sunseri, in his first meeting with the local media since leaving Indiana and being hired last December, described his offensive philosophy as “smart, physical, fast, poised and disciplined.” The goal is to produce a balanced attack — both horizontally and vertically.

To do so, Sunseri will have to mold a new starting quarterback for a fifth consecutive season. He had three different starters over his three seasons as the quarterbacks coach at James Madison and then had Kurtis Rourke in his lone season at Indiana, helping the Hoosiers qualify for the College Football Playoff as the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

For starters, Sunseri said, Aguilar and the quarterbacks had to learn the hard way to “take what the defense is giving us.”

“That’s the biggest thing that these quarterbacks have to be able to learn in college football is that you need to be needy, not greedy,” Sunseri said.

Foster has a few players eager to jump into full team drills.

Among them Saturday was running back Cameron Jones, who appeared in seven games — exclusively on special teams — as a freshman last season.

Jones took part in individual drills with the position group but did not take any handoffs in the team periods.

“He should be full-go any second now,” Foster said. “He’s chomping at the bit. Every time you saw him come up to me, he’s asking if I can get in. He’s trying to get in there.

“I just don’t want any setbacks with anybody, with anything. So it’s just listening to exactly to what your doctors and trainers are saying and making sure that they hit their benchmarks so when they can get out on the field.”

Watch the full press conferences below with both Foster and Sunseri:

If anything was clear, it’s that patience will be required to get a full idea of just what the Bruins are working with on offense this spring.

There were no previous open practices to judge it against, unlike recent spring camps, as Foster and Sunseri look to keep as much mystery as possible.

But for one thing, Aguilar is not afraid to chuck the ball down the field — it just didn’t always reach its intended destination.

Aguilar was intercepted twice in separate series of 7-on-7 work during a 12-minute period, which was the 14th period of the 19 the team went through before ending the day.

First, Ben Perry, the hybrid linebacker/defensive back transfer from Louisville, was lined up in the secondary and simply made a better play to grab a 40-yard throw intended for wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer.