After the Whistle: Laurel’s Khalid Burton

LAUREL, Del. – Even though Khalid Burton isn’t a Laurel native, the senior is leaving his mark on the bulldogs’ athletics programs.

“Aggressiveness, that hype. You know every time I touch the ball everybody going crazy. So I just bring the hype to the team and I bring all the boys confidence.”

Burton brings the hype–not just on the football field, but on the court and the track too as a three-sport star for the bulldogs. “It’s hard but I just do it. Just something I’m used to at this point,” he said.

It’s a year-round grind for the senior, but it wasn’t one he picked up until he moved to Laurel in 7th grade.

“I used to just play basketball. I never played football. I didn’t really think about track…When I started talking to the coaches here and stuff, I was like man I might as well explore a little bit.”

Burton said that exploration and the hard work that followed has paid dividends for him. “It opened a lot of doors for me, I know that for sure. And now I’m more athletic, so, I’m playing three sports, I just know more about myself and how my body works.”

And there’s been no bigger payoff for Burton than his success as a track athlete. In the the spring of 2025 he brought home three gold medals at the Delaware state championship meet: the 200m, 400m, and the 4×100 relay, an accomplishment that he feels sets the stage for bigger things to come. “Down here, I’m just like, trying to just change this whole town really. Because everybody thinks there’s a football in town. I mean, it can be anything if I make it. So I’m trying to make it a track down, you know, a lot of people getting into it now.”