Yahoo Sports 'I'm getting stopped at school for selfies'
Scottish Cup fourth round: Brechin City v Hearts
Venue: Glebe Park, Brechin Date: Friday, 17 January Time: 19:45 GMT
Coverage: Watch live on BBC Scotland, BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website & app
Not many 17-year-olds are asked for selfies by younger, star-struck fellow pupils in their school corridors. But James Wilson is not your average teenager.
The unassuming Balerno High pupil isn't short of stories to share from his weekend when walking to class with his pals on a Monday morning.
Of late, they've centered around leading the line for Hearts.
This weekend marks one year since his debut - off the bench in the Scottish Cup against The Spartans - but it's his recent run, spearheading the Gorgie side's attack from the start, which has shot him into the spotlight.
You wouldn't know it, though. The fresh-faced academy product, who's too young to remember Hearts' last Scottish Cup success in 2012, is refreshingly grounded and mature beyond his years.
Despite scoring to rescue a draw in the derby, becoming the youngest scorer in the Conference League, and emerging as a key part of Neil Critchley's plans, the forward insists he hasn't changed and has just adjusted to his "different" lifestyle.
'Oh wow, this is different'
Nearly one year ago, on 20 January 2024, Wilson was "excited" to be named on the bench as Hearts made the short jaunt up the road to Ainslie Park, in the hope there was "a chance" of coming on against League 2 side The Spartans.
Fast forward to today, as Hearts prepare to make the slightly longer trip to Highland League leaders, Brechin City, where a start is more of an expectation and certainty rather than a possibility.
Such is the way Wilson has propelled himself up the food chain in recent months.
His rise has been rapid, or as he told BBC Scotland, "quick, crazy and mad".
The Scotland youth international was squashed in the dinky dugout in Pilton last year, hoping then-head coach Steven Naismith would call on him if the Scottish Premiership side were skooshing it in their fourth-round tie.
He received the nod, but with the game nervily-poised at 1-0. Soon after his introduction, Dougie Samuel's fourth-tier side had equalised.
Wilson thought, "oh wow, this is different".
It was a wake-up call to the nature of the big-boy game for the bright-eyed bairn, who's spent eight years at the club. But he's been alert since.
And he had to be when ball broke to him in the box at Easter Road, with his side trailing city rivals Hibernian with fewer than five minutes left last October.
While it wasn't his finest, the teenager described that equaliser as "one of the best moments in my career," and credited Critchley for allowing him to strut his stuff.
"He's given me the freedom to play and the opportunity to show what I can do," Wilson added.
"I have a role where I can simplify what I need to do - be in the box, try and score goals and just be on the end of things."
'The wee ones ask for pictures, it's quite cool'
Though Wilson already seems to have a knack for it, scoring goals doesn't come without a whack of pressure.
But Critchley has assured there is no duress in that department from the dugout.
"There is no pressure from us, he's just got to go out and play his game," the former Blackpool boss said. "He's been fantastic in the last few weeks.
"He's a willing learner with a thirst for information and he wants to improve. We can help him with that, while James has just got to be himself."
Something which is easier said than done sometimes, but Wilson has a wise head on young shoulders.
He's supportive of his fellow academy players Adam Forrester and Macaulay Tait, who are also trying to make the step up to the first-team, while he enjoys going away with the youth national teams to play with his pals.
Unsurprisingly, he watches Lawrence Shankland like a hawk in training, "trying to feed off him," while he's constantly questioning his "mentor" Craig Gordon, who lifted the Scottish Cup with Hearts in 2006 long before he was born.
"He's obviously got invaluable experience," he said of the Scotland international.
"He asks me questions, I ask him questions. We're just feeding information off each other; he's really important to me."
Perhaps they share selfie-taking techniques. A part of the role no amount of years in the academy can prepare you for. But Wilson takes it all in his stride.
"In school, the little young ones come up asking for pictures which is quite cool, and a bit weird," he added, "It's just different now, I guess."
Different for now, but if the pace of his progress continues, folk asking for selfies on every corner will only continue.
