The Buckeyes are hoping to stay red-hot in the class of 2020 and took a critical step with a top player out of the Washington (D.C.) area with Rakim Jarrett cutting his list down to a top four schools.

Ohio State is joined by Penn State, Florida State and Alabama on the list of schools that Jarrett is focusing in on.

The Buckeyes are set to see Jarrett on campus in the near future with a visit in the works at the end of the month after the conclusion of the dead period. There are also plans for Jarrett to visit for the November game against Michigan. Ohio State fans are hoping that the visit will occur as Jarrett being a commit rather than a target, but time will tell as Jarrett has not announced a definite timeline of when a commitment could come as a class of 2020 member.

Ohio State may have an ace in the hole with some family ties working in their favor. Jarrett's mother's family is from the state of Ohio and has been getting in his ear.

"Every time I visit, my family members ask me, 'are you coming to Ohio State?'," Jarrett told BuckeyeGrove.com earlier this month. "They've always kind of been planting Ohio State in my ear, even when I was little just because I was good at football and they all thought it was just a matter of time before I would get an offer. It's kind of a hometown team, so that kind of interests me more. It would kind of be like going back home to play."

The Buckeyes already hold a quarterback commit for the class of 2020 with Jack MIller and three offensive linemen to protect Miller. They would love to land Jarrett as a big-time target for MIller to throw to. Stay tuned to this one with the Buckeyes getting another shot at Jarrett in the near future.