was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Leroy Burrell, a barber, and Delores Burrell. He led Penn Wood High School in Landsdowne, Pennsylvania, to the State High School Track and Field Championship in 1985 by winning the 100 and 200 meters and the long and triple jumps. That same year, when he graduated high school, Burrell who posted a time of 10.43 seconds for the 100 meters in 1985 and earned recognition as the Eastern Track and Field Athlete of the Year. He then entered the University of Houston in Texas, and in 1986 long jumped 26 feet 9 inches (8.15 meters) to eclipse the freshman long jump record held by Carl Lewis in a dual-meet against the University of California, Los Angeles, in Westwood. Later at the Southwest Conference (SWC) Track and Field Championships, he suffered a serious knee injury in the long jump final, which sidelined him for the remainder of the year and all of 1987.

Returning to form in 1988, Burrell posted a personal best time of 10.35 seconds in the 100 meters in Westwood before clocking a wind-assisted time of 10.09 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, California. At the 1988 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships, he finished fifth in the 100 meters, improving to 10.31 seconds, and seventh in the long jump. At the 1988 United States Olympic Trials, Burrell finished sixth in the semifinals of the 100 meters. After posting a personal best time of 6.09 seconds indoors in the 55-meter dash, Burrell won the event at The Athletics Congress (TAC) Indoor National Championship, finished second in the 55 meters, and won the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 1989. Timed in 10.03 and 20.40 seconds, respectively, in the 100 and 200 meters outdoors, Burrell finished fifth in the 100 meters and second in the long jump, achieving a lifetime best of 27 feet 5½ inches (8.37 meters) at the NCAA Championships. His long jump performance also marked a NCAA Championship record but Joe Greene, of Ohio State University, won the event with a wind-aided jump of 27 feet 7¼ inches (8.41 meters). Later at the TAC National Championships, Burrell won the 100 meters in 9.94 seconds, another personal best time. Representing the Santa Monica Track Club (SMTC), in Koblenz, West Germany, he joined Danny Everett, Floyd Heard, and Carl Lewis in the 4×200-meter relay, establishing a world record of 1:19.38 on 23 August 1989. In 1990 Burrell won the 100 and 200 meters at the SWC Championships in 9.94 and 19.61 seconds. Although wind-aided times, the latter remained history’s fastest time for 200 meters under all conditions until Michael Johnson clocked 19.32 seconds, then the world record, at the 1996 Olympic Games. After a second place finish in the 100 meters at the NCAA Championships, Burrell won the 100 meters at the Goodwill Games in Seattle, Washington, and captured twelve of fifteen 100-meter races in Europe, of which seven were consecutive.

Selected by Track & Field News as the top 100-meter runner in 1990, Burrell established a world record of 6.48 seconds for 60 meters indoors in Barcelona, Spain, in 1991. Later at the TAC National Championships outdoors, he won the 100 meters in the world record time of 9.90 seconds. On 3 August 1991, in Monte Carlo, Monaco, the SMTC quartet of Burrell, Heard, Lewis, and Michael Marsh equaled the world record of 37.79 seconds established by the French national team in the at the 1990 European Championships. Four days later in Zurich, Switzerland, Burrell, Marsh, Lewis, and Dennis Mitchell lowered the world record to 37.67 seconds. At the 1991 World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo, Japan Burrell finished second to Carl Lewis in the 100 meters, in which the latter established a world record of 9.86 seconds. Burrell trailed in 9.88 seconds. In the 4×100-meter relay, the United States national team of Burrell, Mitchell, Lewis, and Andre Cason claimed the gold medal in the world record performance of 37.50 seconds. In 1992 Burrell won the 60 meters indoors at the TAC National Championships. At the Penn Relays the SMTC 4×200-meter relay team of Burrell, Marsh, Heard, and Lewis set a world record of 1:19.11. After finishing third in the 100 meters at the 1992 US Olympic Trials, he established a lifetime best of 20.12 seconds in the semifinals of the 200 meters. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain Burrell finished fifth in the 100 meters and joined Cason, Mitchell, and Jon Drummond to win the 4×100 meters, in the world record time of 37.40 seconds.

Continuing to compete after the 1992 Olympic Games, Burrell finished fifth in the 100 meters at the 1993 USATF Championships, qualifying for the 4×100-meter relay at the World Track and Field Championships in Stuttgart, Germany later that year. In Stuttgart he joined Drummond, Cason, and Mitchell to win the gold medal in 37.48. On 17 April 1994 Burrell, Marsh, Heard, and Lewis, representing the SMTC, lowered the world record in the 4×200-meter relay to 1:18.68. Timed in 9.85 seconds for 100 meters on 6 July 1994, in Lausanne, Switzerland, he improved the world record of 9.86 set by Lewis in 1991. Finishing sixth in the 100 meters at the USATF Championships in 1995 and 1996, Burrell’s last race, a victorious 4×100-meter relay, came in Berlin in 1997.

After retiring from athletics in 1998 Burrell became the track and field coach at the University of Houston. The Cougars have won fourteen men’s and nine women’s Conference USA Championships under his direction. Married to former world class sprinter Michell Finn since 1994, he is the father of three sons, Cameron, Joshua, and Jaden. Cameron, coached by Burrell at Houston, recorded 9.93 seconds for 100 meters in 2017, joining his father as a member sub-10-second club. Burrell, whose younger sister, Dawn, won the long jump at the 2001 World Indoor Championships in Lisbon, Portugal, entered the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014 and the USATF Hall of Fame in 2017.