Julio Jones draws similarities between catching fish and catching footballs. To escape from the demands of the NFL, you can find the Falcons star trading in his football equipment for some fishing gear. (4:23)

Julio Jones doesn't back away from challenges. As a ninth-grader at Foley (Alabama) High School, he was given the option of playing for the junior varsity football team or joining the varsity squad. He not only chose to play up but started each of his four seasons.

When trying to decide where to attend college as the nation's No. 1 wideout prospect, he selected an Alabama program coming off a .500 season because new coach Nick Saban -- unlike other recruiters -- promised him nothing more than an opportunity to compete for a starting job, adding: "I can win with you, and I can win without you."

However, this past spring the Atlanta Falcons star receiver finally encountered a situation that was too challenging for him. He and friends were planning to rough it on an island beach in the Bahamas. Jones loves to travel, particularly in the Caribbean and South America, and he was looking forward to going off the grid by settling along the shore. The only problem: Jones failed to factor in the tenacity of sand flies, which sent him and his friends scurrying for a nearby hotel.

"I had to leave," he said, laughing.

So there you have it, NFL defenses. When it comes to slowing Jones, forget about double coverages and bracket schemes. Just bring a few sand flies.

The Carolina Panthers probably wish they had thought of it after Jones raced through and around their secondary for a franchise-record 300 yards on 12 receptions, one of which he carried 75 yards for his lone touchdown. The performance moved him atop the league rankings with 488 yards through four games and put him on pace to finish with 1,952 yards, which would be 12 shy of the league record set by Calvin Johnson in 2012.

Despite being one of the game's dominant forces -- at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, he has linebacker size and sprinter's speed -- Jones is often overshadowed by more demonstrative or charismatic receivers, be it Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr. or Dez Bryant.

"It doesn't bother me," the soft-spoken and private Jones said this past summer. "I'm going to do what I do. I'm not going to get caught up in it -- who is better, he is better, whatnot. I've just seen a few games with those guys, but I feel like everybody is different in their own way. It depends on what you are looking for."

Jones quietly had a season for the annals last year. His 136 receptions tied for second most in league history, and his 1,871 also ranked No. 2 all time. He was targeted 203 times, the most for a receiver in the past 10 seasons, but caught 67 percent of those passes. (The league average was 60.9 percent in 2015.)

Jones has never been one to promote his talents, which is not to say he doesn't know how good he is. He's reminded of it almost every Sunday, when he receives double coverage. He says the only team to use single coverage on him the whole game is Arizona and cornerback Patrick Peterson, whose rivalry goes back to their days in the SEC, where Peterson attended LSU.

Falcons receiver Julio Jones says he isn't bothered by the fact that he isn't in the spotlight as often as some of the league's more charismatic characters. David Goldman/AP Photo

"Pat is a great player, and I respect him because he don't mind coming out there and going one-on-one the whole game," Jones said. "Nobody else does it. I played Richard [Sherman], but they play a lot of three-deep, though, so it's really not man-to-man."

His thoughts when he does see man coverage?

"Very disrespectful, very disrespectful," he said. "I'm licking my chops because I know where I'm going, you don't know where I'm going. And just -- working hard at your craft -- I feel like I work hard enough to get in and out of breaks and do certain things that it's going to be hard for a defender to cover me one-on-one if I'm coming at him full speed."

Jones is a player of prodigious talent yet limited words. He prefers to spend his down time on the lake behind his home, hours at a time in the offseason. He also can be found in the bowling alley. When he travels, he prefers locations filled with natural beauty rather than tourists. The only time he wants to be in the headlines is after helping his team win.

"I just kind of do my own thing," Jones said. "I'm not trying to be like nobody else or nothing like that. Like when I travel, everybody's like, go to Dubai, it's a new thing. I can go to Dubai, but I'm not going to just because I'm not trying to go where everybody is going."

He can take his game where no one has gone, but there are concerns about how long he will hold up physically. He often scares coaches and personnel staff in practice because he goes so hard. On more than one occasion, Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff has asked him to back off in practice, but it's hard for Jones. If he's going to do something in games, he first wants to do it in practice, so it becomes muscle memory, if you will.

Matt Ryan passed for 503 yards and Julio Jones had 300 yards receiving last week for the Falcons. Jason Getz/USA Today Sports

He understands that tomorrow is not promised, so he gives all he has today. And he never looks back, even after a crushing defeat. The next time you see him cry after a loss will be the first time.

"There'll be some games where guys cry, and I feel like if you give in to emotions like that, you didn't give your all," Jones said. "All I can give is everything I got and that's it; that's all you can ask from a guy is his all. If he is giving you his all -- and that's not just that game, I'm talking about the whole week, the preparation -- that's all you can ask.

"Me, I'm coming to work, I'm practicing hard every day, I'm eating right, I'm getting the proper sleep, I'm getting the proper rest, everything, I'm giving you all I have. I'm not going to pout if we lose. Yeah, I'm upset I lost, but it's not going to be to that degree like I'm cussing, get away from me, this and that."

Just as he knew it was time to leave the beach last spring in the Bahamas, Jones said he will know when it's time to leave the game.

"When I can't go out there and I feel like I can beat man coverage -- or I don't demand two-man -- then it will be time," he said. "Sometimes a guy is going to get you here and there, you compete. He is getting paid just like you're getting paid, and he is a competitor just like you are. But if a guy can just stop me a whole game by himself, and I can't do nothing about it or I'm fatiguing or I'm not strong throughout the whole game, then it's time for me to hang them up."

Fortunately for the Falcons and lovers of unique talents, that day seems far off.