Character Instantly hits Ground after Falling off Object

Hello, so close to getting a decent character controller. For testing I set up some default cubes up and have been jumping up them. The problem is when I walk off the cube (not jump), my character instantly hits the ground plane. I've tried adjusting the scale of my character model as well as change the gravity setting in Unity. Neither has impacted the speed of which my character falls to the floor. Help is greatly appreciated.

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class playerScript : MonoBehaviour
 {
     //Public Settings
     public float speed = 20.0f;
     public float jumpForce = 60.0f;
     public float gravity = 60.0f;
     public float dist = 0.1f;
 
     public LayerMask ground;
 
     //Private Settings
     private Vector3 moveDirection = Vector3.zero;
     private CharacterController controller;
     private Animator anim;
 
     void Start()
     {
         //Setting up animation/character controls
         controller = GetComponent<CharacterController>();
         anim = GetComponentInChildren<Animator>();
     }
 
     void FixedUpdate()
     {
         //Input
         float h = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal");
         float v = Input.GetAxis("Vertical");
         bool jump = Input.GetButton("Jump");
 
         Movement(h, v, jump);
     }
 
     void Movement(float h, float v, bool jump)
     {
         //Calls rotation function in order to determine which direction is forward.
         //Moves character forward.  Not limited to isGrounded so that character can manipulate falling direction.
         if (h != 0 || v != 0)
         {
             Rotation(h, v);
             anim.SetInteger("animPar", 1);
             moveDirection.z = v * speed;
             moveDirection.x = h * speed;
         }
         //If character is not moving at all, zeros forward/side motion (potential problem area perhaps?)
         else if (h == 0 && v == 0 && controller.isGrounded)
         {
             anim.SetInteger("animPar", 0);
             moveDirection.z = v * 0;
             moveDirection.x = h * 0;
         }
         //Initializes the jump function.  Only can be done as long as the character isGrounded.
         if (controller.isGrounded && jump == true)
         {
             Jump(jump);
         }
         //Ran into an issue where I couldn't get the jump animation to play consistently if moving and jumping.  So I set this value to always
         //play the jump animation whenever character is not grounded.
         if (!controller.isGrounded)
         {
             anim.SetInteger("animPar", 2);
         }
         //Moves character.
         moveDirection.y -= gravity * Time.deltaTime;
         controller.Move(Camera.main.transform.TransformDirection(moveDirection) * Time.deltaTime);
     }
 
     void Rotation(float h, float v)
     {
         //Not only makes character always face direction of travel, but also re-calculates the forward transform directon based on the rotation of
         //my camera.
         Vector3 direction = new Vector3(h, 0f, v);
         Quaternion rotation = Quaternion.LookRotation(direction, Vector3.up);
         transform.rotation = rotation * Camera.main.transform.rotation;
     }
 
     void Jump(bool jump)
     {
             //Super basic jump function.  Nothing fancy.  Probably will try to add double jump eventually, but that's a different story...
             anim.SetInteger("animPar", 2);
             moveDirection.y = jumpForce;
     }
 }