He scheduled his leave to start then so he could be back for the Ohio State-Michigan game the next day.

There was no bigger Buckeye fan than Adam. He'd yell so loud when a player on the team made a mistake that people two counties over could hear him. He once told his homecoming date at Westland High School he was going to have to skip the dance to watch the Northwestern game.

He joined the Army Reserves in part to pay for school. He told his friends that when his deployment to Iraq was over, he'd eventually like to start school at Ohio State.

In March, he deployed with Whitehall's 346th Psychological Operations Company, whose mission is to help the U.S. win over the hearts and minds of Iraqis.

He handed out candy and soccer balls to the kids there, and he ate dinner with Iraqi officials.

But a few weeks ago, he was attached to another unit in Baghdad. He told his family that it would be dangerous for a little while, then he'd be back with his old unit.

Knox, 21, had about a week of dangerous duty left when he was killed Sunday. A Defense Department news release said he was hit with small-arms fire during combat operations.

He joined the Army Reserve just after he graduated from Westland in 2003.

His father, Jay Knox, an Army veteran, was sick with an inoperable spinal tumor that eventually would kill him. Adam joined in part for the college money, said younger brother Tom Knox, and in part because of his father's influence.

Adam was always a hard worker, at a Meijer store, at Skyline Chili and, just before he mobilized, at a business-products wholesaler.

The Army suited him, his friends said. He had a predisposition to neatness and order. He made people take off their shoes before getting in his Z28 Camaro so they wouldn't mess up the carpets, said Rob Wallace, his best friend since first grade. He scrubbed that car inside and out every weekend.

But he was a little shy before he joined the Army.

"It's not that he lacked confidence, but he just seemed more proud of himself after he finished training," said Aaron Festog, another longtime friend.

Knox believed in what the military was doing in Iraq, his friends said. He complained that people focused too much on why the U.S. was there, or how much it was costing, and not enough on the good that individual soldiers were doing.

He hadn't quite figured out what he wanted for his life. He'd talked about the military as a career, about firefighting, maybe. His brother said that while in Iraq, Adam thought about becoming a park ranger.

But his friends said he still wanted to come back and go to Ohio State. He liked the idea of student football tickets.

Besides his brother, Tom, Knox is survived by his mother, Deborah, and an older brother, Tony.

Funeral arrangements were pending last night.