East Carolina football star David Coleman Jr suffered one of the most unlucky injuries of the season on Saturday after a ref slipped into him and appeared to break his leg.

The Pirates beat Temple 17-9 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, but it was an incident between plays that is making headlines – and for all the wrong reasons.

In a clip which quickly went viral on social media, the ESPN footage showed the horrifying moment one of the officials ran towards the players, only to lose his footing.

He inadvertently hit the ground and took Coleman with him, and the safety appeared to get his leg stuck between the ref and one of his teammates.

A few moments later he hopped off the field with the help of the team's medical staff, and he was immediately transported to the hospital.

On3 reported shortly after that Coleman Jr is believed to have suffered a fractured fibula in the fall, which is almost certain to rule him out for the rest of the season.

Coleman Jr is in his freshman year at East Carolina, and he was a three-star recruit out of Kingsland, Georgia. 

In the game itself, TJ Engleman Jr ran for 107 yards including a second-half touchdown that helped East Carolina seal the win.

Engleman went 19 yards up the middle early in the third quarter to put the Pirates (4-4, 2-2 American) ahead 17-3. Second-half interceptions by Zyeir Gamble, Angelo Ross and Ashton Levells-Mitchell turned away the Owls.

The Pirates are now 4-4 on the season, with a home game against South Florida next up on Friday night.