Cabral played professionally as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) with the Atlanta Falcons, the Green Bay Packers, and the Chicago Bears.
As a senior, he was honored as the Big Eight Conference's player of the week for a monster 25 tackles in a CU 27-21 win over Stanford and shared the team's Sure Tackler Award with Mark Haynes.
From 1999 through 2005, he also coached the punt return unit on special teams, and served as the director of Colorado's summer football camps from 1995 through 2005 and for a brief time as recruiting coordinator.
Known as one of the top linebacker coaches in the nation, his students have included Matt Russell, the 1996 Butkus Award winner, all-Big Eight performers Greg Biekert, Chad Brown and Ted Johnson, all of whom went on to stardom in the National Football League, and all-Big 12 linebacker Jordon Dizon, a consensus All-American who was also the league defensive player of the year for 2007.
Cabral's 21 years as a full-time assistant rank as the most in Colorado athletic history, not only for football but for all sports sponsored by the University.
His first stint was a three-month period in 2004 before the start of the season when Head Coach Gary Barnett was placed on paid administrative leave.