Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer delivers the keynote address at Sunday's USA Football 2018 National Conference at Pro Bowl. (Photo by Adam Wire)

Today is the final day of the USA Football 2018 National Conference at Pro Bowl, and the activities at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, are wrapping up with an impressive lineup of speakers. This year's attendance of 1,563 attendees has tripled the number from 2016.

Here's a real-time look at today's speakers, as they happen. Continue to follow along, as the blog will be updated throughout the morning.

RELATED CONTENT: USA Football 2018 National Conference: Day 2 sessions, speakers, activities

RELATED CONTENT: USA Football 2018 National Conference: Day 1 activities, speakers, sights and sounds

8 a.m.

"Coach, we're taking you out of the game"

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Cleveland St. Ignatius High School coach Chuck Kyle hasn't won 11 state championships without getting creative. His prevention on the 3-3 Stack defense illustrated that.

Kyle said the defense was created in an effort to counteract spread offenses, and wasn't an issue when he took over the St. Ignatius head-coaching job in 1983. "In Ohio, it was all about the 4-4 defense, eight-man front, Woody Hayes, pound away," Kyle said.

The defense is effective, according to Kyle, in part because the defense doesn't show its tendencies or what its coverage will ultimately be until after the snap. It can stem into a four-man front just before the snap. "It's a way telling the (offensive) coach, 'Coach, we're taking you out of the game,'" he said.

8:30 a.m.

NCAA Recruiting Panel, with NCAA’s Glenn Terry, Villanova AD Mark Jackson

Terry covered NCAA eligibility updates, including those below for Division I:

For colleges big and small, athletic success can be a huge benefit. Jackson said Villanova has seen an increase from 15,000 enrollment applications to 22,000 in just two years, due in part to increased visibility from the men’s basketball team’s postseason success.

“The national championship (in 2016) had a lot to do with it, and our undergraduate business school is one of the best in the country,” he said. 

8:45 a.m.

"Everything on the internet is permanent"

Anna Stolzenburg, the social media editor for the Buffalo Bills, delivered an impactful presentation on managing the ins and outs of social media for high school coaches and players on Sunday morning.

"I was the first social media person for the Bills," Stolzenburg said, "In my 3 years, social media has changed so much. In fact, it's still changing, and it kind of drives me crazy."

She talked about aiming to diversify content for the platform — Twitter being much more geared toward fast updates, halftime scores, final results, etc.; Facebook being more about highlights; Instagram all about the visuals, of course. "Think about what content makes sense for your audience on that platform," she said.

Stolzenburg advised coaches to have a social media game plan:
» Decide on goals. Is it scores on game day? Is it featuring a player? Everyone likely has different goals. "That's both the difficulty with social, and the beauty of social," Stolzenburg said. "Everyone can be different."
» Determine your team. "This is super important. Is it your students, chipping in on social? This could be fabulous for your school," Stolzenburg said. "But the key is having someone taking care of updating the scores on game day, and being consistent. Consistency is huge for your audience. They want to know what to expect."
» Set rules. Set boundaries. "You don't want social media getting in your way on game day. The post-game speech may be amazing, but you might not want it out on social media. Define those boundaries before game day."
» Prepare for game day. Have templates. Think about the moments that will engage your audience on social.

Stolzenburg then laid out a "Do's and Don'ts" for players on social media:
» If you have to think twice about the post, DON'T POST IT. Don't post anything that doesn't "pass the mom test."
» "Photos are better than nothing. Videos are better than photos."
» Interact with followers. But don't share inside information. And don't give bulletin board material on social.
» Relate to your community.
» Be you. The best you. You can easily be fake on social. If your players are themselves, it will pay dividends down the road.
» Don't lose yourself an opportunity.

And the biggest takeaway? "Everything on the internet is permanent. Even if it's deleted, someone will find it."

9:10 a.m.

The two biggest lies in football

Trent Dilfer's 14-season NFL career included the highest highs (he quarterbacked the Baltimore Ravens to the 2001 Super Bowl title) and some of the lowest lows (he said he was once booed at a Tampa restaurant when the hostess announced, "Dilfer, party of two."

Dilfer told the keynote attendees he was able to bounce back from disappointment thanks in large part to the words they used with him as a young player.

"Football is about nurturing," he said. "A coach has this incredible ability to shape this vision of his or herself. The words you say, and how you treat your kids, is going to paint a vision of who they are. Think about how much time you spend game-planning. What if you took the same amount of time and planned how you messaged your players?"

To close his speech, Dilfer listed what he believed to be the two biggest lies in football:

1. The goal is winning. "The goal is not winning. The goal is to have a winning process. They have the same results; the road to get there is different."

2. The biggest risk and danger in football is player safety. "The biggest risk in the mental and emotional safety to those who are playing it. The player safety concern is real, but it pales in comparison. I love that the game is getting safer. They all have vulnerable hearts and minds."

10:25 a.m.

“You can be the best coach in the world, but it doesn’t matter unless a kid says, ‘I want to play again next year.’”

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Thomas Downey (Modesto, California) High School coach Jeremy Plaa talked about how to convince students to come out for the football team, but spent even more time talking about how to make it fun and retain players.

“You can be the best coach in the world, but it doesn’t matter unless a kid says, ‘I want to play again next year,’” Plaa told his attendees.

He sends out a brochure (pictured above) to incoming freshmen at Thomas Downey the preceding April that extols the program’s virtues and striving to address parents’ safety concerns.

Once the players arrive, he keeps the program attractive to them, including the scheme (hurry-up offense, aggressive defense, innovative special teams), practices (never longer than two hours, music blasting, keeping score whenever possible) and short coach messages during practice.

“Coach in Twitter terms — 140 characters or less,” Plaa said. “Otherwise, you lose them.” 

10:30 a.m.

Life After Football, with former NFL DB, current neurosurgery resident Myron Rolle

Rolle’s is a one-of-a-kind path, from All-American at Florida State, to Rhodes Scholar, to the NFL and now a career as a neurosurgeon.

When Rolle got to FSU, he focused on four things to shape his future – scholastic achievement, public service, support structure and spirit.

Rolle told the attending coaches, “If you teach these young men to focus on these four aspects, I can’t guarantee success, but you’ll be light years ahead of others who aren’t following this methodology toward getting to your dreams, your goals, your ambitions.”

11:10 a.m.

New Canaan, Connecticut: Football Town

Lou Marinelli's New Canaan Rams have won 12 state championships in his 37 years at the school, so it might seem it would be simple to keep the community engaged. But he and New Canaan Youth Football President Wendy Cunney do lots of work to make it happen.

From theme nights at home games (Wounded Warriors, honoring police/fire) to having high school players coach the youth players to working in assisted living communities, the Rams reach out to their town like few other programs.

"Make every home game special," Marinelli said during their "Growing the Game in Your Community" presentation. "You'll get more people there. All of a sudden, we have instant fans. That resonates in the community."

Combine that with large-scale parental involvement, and the Rams don't have to look far for support.

“My friends are thrilled when football season starts, and sad when it ends," said Cunney, who has three football-playing sons. "Their kids are all doing the same stuff, but they are most excited for football season, because we have engaged them.”

USA Football CEO Scott Hallenbeck thanked all of those involved in the week's festivities.

Brent Glasgow, Scott Goldman and Adam Wire contributed to this report.