It's homecoming week indeed for the Hawaii football team.

A day after the Warriors welcomed back a special teams leader off last year's team, defensive end Francis Maka was cleared by the NCAA to rejoin the team.

Maka's appeal for an extension to the NCAA's five-year clock was granted yesterday and he joined defensive back Guyton Galdeira as midseason pickups for the Warriors (2-3, 1-1 Western Athletic Conference), who face Louisiana Tech (2-2, 1-1) tomorrow in their homecoming game at Aloha Stadium. Both seniors are eligible to suit up for the game.

“;I'm trying to get ahold of my dad so I can tell him because he's the one who put in most of the work with all this,”; Maka said moments after being informed of the ruling by head coach Greg McMackin and UH director of compliance Amanda Paterson after yesterday's practice. “;My mom was ecstatic, my girlfriend started crying.”;

Maka appeared in eight games last season and recorded 17 tackles, including a sack, before a broken leg sidelined him for UH's last four regular-season games. He returned for the Sugar Bowl and it appeared that would be his final UH game when his initial appeal was denied.

Maka's appeal was based on two years he sat out due to medical reasons while attending Arizona. A staff change in the Wildcats program made it difficult to obtain the documents he needed for his case, but he submitted a “;revised statement”; on Monday.

“;I was surprised at how quick it went,”; said Maka, who transferred to UH from College of San Mateo.

Maka began the season as a student manager and would have been allowed to practice for 14 days while the appeal was being considered. It turned out he didn't have to wait that long.

“;I was still in disbelief. I thought (McMackin) was joking with me at first,”; Maka said. “;But when I talked to Amanda, I just couldn't help but hug everybody.”;