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<p>Baylor coach Art Briles walks the sideline during his team's NCAA college football game against Buffalo in Amherst, New York, on Sept. 12, 2014.</p>

Baylor coach Art Briles walks the sideline during his team's NCAA college football game against Buffalo in Amherst, New York, on Sept. 12, 2014.

Football is back, and with it comes the culmination of an offseason filled with controversy.

These controversies range from the serious and horrific, like former Baylor defensive end Sam Ukwuachu’s sexual assault of a BU women’s soccer player, to the silly and avoidable, like the New York Jets’ Geno Smith’s jaw, broken after it was bashed in by teammate Ik Enemkpali inside the Jets’ locker room.

Lately, football has had a hard time separating itself from drama.

In case you’ve forgotten, here’s a quick recap of a few of the most covered, off-the-field stories from football’s busy offseason.

It began with the release of the NFL’s Deflategate reports in May — an investigation conducted by Ted Wells into the New England Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady, involving the under inflation of footballs used by New England during the AFC Championship game.

The league’s already shaky reputation for its ability to handle internal investigations took another hit when reports indicated Wells wasn't actually an "independent" investigator at all.

Months later, much of the football world still sits in purgatory, as Brady and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell continue to battle in court to see what will become of Brady’s four-game suspension to open the 2015 season.

As the NFL preseason began, Deflategate drama gave way to the hot topic of increased fighting in training camps, which really wasn’t uncommon until Smith was sidelined for 6-10 weeks, all because of a $600 debt he allegedly refused to pay.

As I tuned into Sportscenter that day, ESPN analysts and former NFL players gathered to announce their shock at Enemkpali’s actions towards a quarterback, which had no precedent.

At the forefront of those with strong-formed opinions was ESPN analyst and Hall-of-Famer Cris Carter who, this past weekend, found himself in the middle of his own controversy when a video surfaced of him speaking during the NFC session of the 2014 NFL Rookie Symposium.

There, he instructed players to make sure they had a "fall guy" to take the blame if they happened to end up in their own off-the-field controversy in the future.

On Friday, former Boise State transfer and Baylor defensive end Ukwuachu was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years probation for the 2013 sexual assault of a former Baylor women’s soccer player.

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During the trial, the reason behind Ukwuachu’s 2013 dismissal from Boise State was made public: he had been accused of assaulting his girlfriend.

This shone a spotlight on Baylor head coach Art Briles and why he would have taken on a Boise player who had an assault accusation in his past.

And so began a back-and-forth between Briles and former Boise State coach Chris Peterson after Briles said Peterson failed to tell him of the misgivings surrounding Ukwuachu.

Peterson vehemently denied that, saying he fully informed Briles at the time.

However you look at it, it's hard to believe Briles was unaware of the allegations leveled against Ukwuachu.

This latest scandal will undoubtedly bleed into the coming weeks until it is resolved or the next one appears, which, if the past is any indication, shouldn’t take much longer.

So here we are, two weeks before the start of the NFL and college football regular season and teams across the nation are juggling controversies, scandals, incidents and criminal charges involving a few individuals that have caused an unfair stereotype for the countless players who just want to play football.

Finally, the offseason is over. Here’s hoping that football’s messy mountain of scandals are too.

Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb

Baylor coach Art Briles walks the sideline during his team's NCAA college football game against Buffalo in Amherst, New York, on Sept. 12, 2014.

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