Colorado Buffaloes cornerback Kenneth Crawley has seen a ton of action in his freshman season, and unexpectedly finds himself as the team leader in tackles.

Crawley's 40 tackles tie him with junior safety Terrel Smith for the team lead through five games. Teams are obviously targeting the freshman's side of the secondary, which is something Crawley told Buffzone.com that he has expected:

"Since I'm a freshman, teams are going to try to go at me and go deep," Crawley said. "I've got to expect more. Going into the games I've got to expect they're going to come at me early."

Defensive coordinator Greg Brown said he'd rather not have so many tackles come from the secondary, but it's a good thing the tackles are being made when the ball does come that way:

"You would always prefer that the corners are not making the tackles. That means that ball is somehow getting back there where the corners are having to make the tackles. Of course you prefer that not to be, but also, that's part of the deal. If the ball is back there and you're a corner, you'd better make the tackle."

Colorado hosts Arizona State Thursday night in a game televised by ESPN.