Arizona football: Wildcats OL Bryson Cain out for season with ankle injury

The first injury report of the season has been released and it already brought the Arizona Wildcats some bad news.

Redshirt freshman offensive tackle Bryson Cain is out for the season after suffering an ankle injury.

Cain, a three-star recruit out of Great Oak High School (Temecula, Calif.), was among the candidates to be a second-string lineman.

Cain would have been behind starting left tackle Layth Friekh, which explains why Josh McCauley, a walk-on redshirt freshman, was listed behind Friekh on the depth chart this week.

Cain entered the program at 6-foot-4, 276 pounds last season and redshirted. This offseason, he added more weight to his frame, and is now listed at 291 pounds.

Given that Cain's injury is season-ending, perhaps there's a chance he'll get a medical redshirt, which would grant him a sixth year of eligiblity at Arizona.

Moving forward, offensive line coach Jim Michalczik doesn’t have much depth to work with.

If Gerhard de Beer holds onto his spot at right tackle, Cody Creason could presumably be used as a backup at either left or right tackle.

This is where Michael Eletise could show off his versatility as well and slide over, if he can’t beat Christian Boettcher out at left guard.

After that, you might need redshirt sophomore Alex Kosinski or junior college transfer Maisen Knight to step in.

Arizona added 6-foot-5, 296-pound Edgar Burrola in the 2016 class, but he is coming off a shoulder injury and likely needs a redshirt year.

Either way, Cain's injury is a sizable blow to an Arizona offensive line that already had depth issues heading into the season.