guarantee

When Husan Longstreet arrived at USC a year ago, the expectation was the five-star freshman would be the Trojans’ future at quarterback.

But after just one season at USC, Longstreet is leaving.

The true freshman passer and former top prospect officially entered the NCAA transfer portal Thursday, throwing the Trojans’ future plans at football’s most important position into question. USC has just two quarterbacks currently on the roster, one being a true freshman in Jonas Williams.

There’s no doubt, however, who will remain USC’s quarterback next season. Returning starter Jayden Maiava, who led the Big Ten in passing yards last season (3,711) announced his intent last month to play another season at USC, as opposed to declaring for the NFL draft.

That left Longstreet with a choice: Spend another season on the sideline or search for opportunity elsewhere.

USC coach Lincoln Riley made a plea for his young quarterback’s patience last month.

“For any player, especially a quarterback, I don’t know if this would be the right time to leave this place,” Riley said. “This thing is getting pretty good. And I think a lot of people recognize that, both in what we have now and what we’re bringing in, where this thing is going.”

But Longstreet’s father, Kevin, told On3 last month that his son was looking for a chance to contribute immediately.

“He loves USC, the team and players, but no guarantees in life and Husan is a competitor,” Kevin Longstreet told On3’s Greg Biggins. “Everyone is saying ‘sit for another year, only need one good year.’ But there’s no guarantee Lincoln is back next year, what if we struggle and a new staff comes in? Then he has to learn whole new system. He wants to play now and give himself his best shot.”

It wasn’t until late in the recruiting process in November 2024 that USC even emerged as a serious option for the Corona Centennial High product. He spent the previous seven months committed to Texas A&M, while USC already had a 2026 quarterback committed in Julian Lewis.

But after a delicate dance of courting both quarterbacks, USC pivoted to Longstreet and managed to flip him from the Aggies. It was one of Riley’s most significant USC recruiting victories.

“The more we got to know him, got to evaluate him, the more we got to see his mental makeup, how team-oriented he was, how serious he was about the game, we just felt like in the end, there wasn’t a better fit for us,” Riley said on signing day in December 2024. “That’s eventually why we made the decisions we made. I feel like we landed on the perfect guy for us.”

Longstreet appeared in four games as a true freshman, retaining his redshirt year. He’ll have four seasons of eligibility remaining wherever he ends up. He completed 13 of 15 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for another 76 yards and two scores.

“As a hometown kid, representing USC was an incredible opportunity I’ll always cherish,” Longstreet said in a statement on social media. “I’m excited for what’s ahead and ready to embrace the next opportunity with faith, purpose and gratitude.”

With Longstreet gone, expect USC to pursue a veteran passer in the transfer portal to fill the No. 3 spot on its depth chart, similar to how Sam Huard did last season.

The comments come as the Kremlin slammed a plan for France and the UK to send peacekeepers to Ukraine after a ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said an agreement on a security guarantee from Washington is now “essentially ready” to be finalised by US President Donald Trump, following days of negotiations in Paris.

In a post on X on Thursday, Zelenskyy said the document – a cornerstone of any settlement to end the war, which would guarantee Washington and other Western allies would support Ukraine if Russia invaded again – was almost complete.

“The bilateral document on security guarantees for Ukraine ‍is now essentially ⁠ready for finalisation at the highest level with the president,” he said.

He said the talks in Paris, involving teams from the US and Europe, had addressed “complex issues” from the framework under discussion to end the nearly four-year war, with the Ukrainian delegation presenting possible solutions for these.

“We understand that the American side will engage with Russia, and we expect feedback on whether the aggressor is genuinely willing to end the war,” he said.

Washington, which on Tuesday endorsed the idea of providing security guarantees for Ukraine for the first time, is expected to present any agreement it reaches with Kyiv to Moscow, in its attempt to broker an end to the conflict.

Kyiv says legally-binding assurances that its allies would come to its defence are essential to deter Moscow from future aggression if a ceasefire is reached.

But specific details on the guarantees and how Ukraine’s allies would respond have not been made public.

Zelenskyy said earlier this week that he was yet to receive an “unequivocal” answer about what they would do if Russia did attack again.

Russia slams peacekeeper plan

Zelenskyy’s comments came as Russia rejected a plan that emerged from the Paris talks for European peacekeepers to be deployed to Ukraine as “militaristic”, warning they would be treated as “legitimate military targets”.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a declaration of intent with Zelenskyy in Paris, setting out the framework for troops from their countries to be deployed to Ukraine after a ceasefire was reached with Russia.

But in Russia’s first comments in response to the plan, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced the proposal as “dangerous” and “destructive”, dampening hopes the plan could prove a step in bringing the war to an end.

“The new militarist declarations of the so-called Coalition of the Willing and the Kyiv regime together form a genuine ‘axis of war’,” Zakharova said in a statement.

“All such units and facilities will be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces,” she said, repeating a threat previously made by Putin.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that it would not accept any NATO members sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.

Russia attacks energy infrastructure

In his social media post, Zelenskyy also called for more pressure on Russia from Ukraine’s supporters, after further Russian missile attacks on energy infrastructure, which, he said, “clearly don’t indicate that Moscow is reconsidering its priorities”.

“In this context, it is necessary that pressure on Russia continues to increase at the same intensity as the work of our negotiating teams.”

The attacks left Ukrainian authorities scrambling to restore heating and water to hundreds of thousands of households in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions.

“This is truly a national level emergency,” Borys Filatov, mayor of Dnipropetrovsk’s capital Dnipro, said on Telegram.

He announced power was “gradually returning to the hospitals” after the blackouts forced them to run on generators. The city authorities also extended school holidays for children.

About 600,000 households in the region remained cut off from power in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian energy company DTEK said.

Billionaire Larry Ellison has stepped up, agreeing to personally guarantee part of Paramount’s bid for rival Warner Bros. Discovery.

Ellison’s personal guarantee of $40.4 billion in equity, disclosed Monday, ups the ante in the acrimonious auction for Warner Bros. movie and TV studios, HBO, CNN and Food Network.

Ellison, whose son David Ellison is chief executive of Paramount, agreed not to revoke the Ellison family trust or adversely transfer its assets while the transaction is pending. Paramount’s $30-a-share offer remains unchanged.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s board this month awarded the prize to Netflix. The board rejected Paramount’s $108.4-billion deal, largely over concerns about the perceived shakiness of Paramount’s financing.

Paramount shifted gears and launched a hostile takeover, appealing directly to Warner shareholders, offering them $30 a share.

“We amended this Offer to address Warner Bros. stated concerns regarding the Prior Proposal and the December 8 Offer,” Paramount said in a Monday Securities & Exchange Commission filing. “Mr. Larry Ellison is providing a personal guarantee of the Ellison Trust’s $40.4 billion funding obligation.”

The Ellison family acquired the controlling stake in Paramount in August. The family launched their pursuit of Warner Bros. in September but Warner’s board unanimously rejected six Paramount proposals.

Paramount started with a $19 a share bid for the entire company. Netflix has offered $27.75 a share and only wants the Burbank studios, HBO and the HBO Max streaming service. Paramount executives have held meetings with Warner investors in New York, where they echoed the proposal they’d submitted in the closing hours of last week’s auction.

On Monday, Paramount also agreed to increase the termination fee to $5.8 billion from $5 billion, matching the one that Netflix offered.

Warner Bros. board voted unanimously to accept Netflix’s $72-billion offer, citing Netflix’s stronger financial position, the board has said.

Three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds representing royal families in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi have agreed to provide $24 billion of the $40.4-billion equity component that Ellison is backing.

The Ellison family has agreed to cover $11.8-billion of that. Initially, Paramount’s bid included the private equity firm of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, but Kushner withdrew his firm last week.

Paramount confirmed that the Ellison family trust owns about 1.16 billion shares of Oracle common stock and that all material liabilities are publicly disclosed.

“In an effort to address Warner Bros.’s amorphous need for ‘flexibility’ in interim operations, Paramount’s revised proposed merger agreement offers further improved flexibility to Warner Bros. on debt refinancing transactions, representations and interim operating covenants,” Paramount said in its statement.

Paramount has been aggressively pursuing Warner Bros. for months.

David Ellison was stunned earlier this month when the Warner Bros. board agreed to a deal with Netflix for $82.7 billion for the streaming and studio assets.

Paramount subsequently launched its hostile takeover offer in a direct appeal to shareholders. Warner Bros. board urged shareholders to reject Paramount’s offer, which includes $54 billion in debt commitments, deeming it “inferior” and “inadequate.” The board singled out what it viewed as uncertain financing and the risk implicit in a revocable trust that could cause Paramount to terminate the deal at any time.

Paramount, controlled by the Ellisons, is competing with the most valuable entertainment company in the world to acquire Warner Bros.

Executives from both Paramount and Netflix have argued that they would be the best owners and utilize the Warner Bros. library to boost their streaming operations.

In its letter to shareholders and a detailed 94-page regulatory filing last week, Warner Bros. hammered away at risks in the Paramount offer, including what the company described as the Ellison family’s failure to adequately backstop their equity commitment.

The equity is supported by “an unknown and opaque revocable trust,” the board said. The documents Paramount provided “contain gaps, loopholes and limitations that put you, our shareholders, and our company at risk.”

Netflix also announced Monday that it has refinanced part of a $59 billion bridge loan with cheaper and longer-term debt.

Bloomberg contributed to this report.