Bush Won’t Get to Wear No. 5

Reggie Bush wore jersey No. 5 for USC. He won’t get to wear the same number for the New Orleans Saints.

NFL rules stipulate that running backs wear numbers between 20 and 49, and Atlanta Falcons General Manager Rich McKay, co-chairman of the NFL’s competition committee, said Tuesday the panel had recommended against Bush’s request for No. 5.

“Nobody is comfortable that an exception be made to the policy and no one is confident that there will ever be a change,” McKay said at NFL owners’ meetings.

Bush, chosen second overall by the Saints in the NFL draft, told the Associated Press he was “disappointed” but would nonetheless honor a pledge to donate 25% of his share on jersey sales to New Orleans-area recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina.