Brendan Keefe and Christopher Buchanan

WXIA-TV

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — A dive team dipped below the surface of Lake Lanier on a rescue mission. They weren't searching for someone — but something.

"I'm getting ready to dive for a diamond ring — a diamond earring," Bobby Griffin said.

The self-described "Scubaman" of Lake Lanier, Griffin was on a mission along with salvage diver Richard Pickering to uncover a bit of a treasure from the lake — though not one long-ago abandoned at the bottom of this man-made lake.

"Yeah, it was worth a little bit," Julio Jones said.

Jones, the superstar wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons, lost his diamond earring while jet skiing. That was when he apparently hit a boat wake and was tossed into the water. He came back up, but his earring, worth more than $100,000 didn't. He suspects that it's now somewhere at the bottom of the lake — some 65 feet below.

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At the bottom, it's completely dark.

"Pitch dark, which I was rather surprised at," Griffin said.

It's also full of trees that haven't seen daylight since the 1950s.

"They cut the trees off and let all the limbs fall down," Pickering added.

The only hope is that the divers' lights might catch a glint off the diamond - not an easy way to find such a small item.

"It's down in crevasses and nooks and crannies," Pickering said. "It's impossible - absolutely impossible."

That day, the divers rose from the water empty-handed. There was no catch for Julio Jones, though he said he's just happy no one was hurt when he fell.

"As long as I'm good, it's materialistic stuff," he said. "You can always get that kind of stuff back."

Or even better - replace it with a Super Bowl ring this season.

"Most definitely," Jones said.

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